FieraCavalli2018Four days dedicated to horses’ and riders’ wellbeing thanks to the horse riding surfaces in recycled rubber characterised the presence of Ecopneus at FieraCavalli together with UISP, Italian Union Sports for Everybody. Great presence of public at our stand in Pavillion 4, where workshops and technical meetings were organised. Moreover, this is where the research of the Department of Veterinary Studies of the University of Perugia was presented. Even more members of the public went to Pavillion 2, where an innovative work surface for horse riding made with recycled rubber mixed with sand was presented. The surface was created by Promix and Italgreen with 50,000 kg of recycled rubber granules covered with a coloured acrylic pigment, mixed with encapsulated sand.

Under this layer a synthetic turf surface guaranteed the correct stability of the granules. In its turn, it was placed on a specific underlayer with rubber tiles. This brought the total of recycled rubber used for the surface to over 65,000 kg, which is equivalent to over 7,000 car tyres. An additional 25,000 kg of recycled rubber were used to create service areas and walkways on the sides of the horse riding surface.

Intense sports activities were carried out on the horse riding surface in recycled rubber: from the II edition of the Ecopneus-Uips Trophy to the exhibition of Arabian Horses; from the exhibition of the riders of the Military Veterinary Centre of the Italian Army (CEMIVET) to the ones of vaulting. Overall, over 450 athletes were involved in these activities.

The three disciplines of the Trophy saw the participation of both men and women from the age of 16. The majority of participants to the vaulting competition were girls. The Uisp’s formula of this technique requires the execution of the figures to be accompanied by the interpretation of a theme, freely chosen by the athlete. The jury is composed of an international judge and an artistic gymnastics judge for the choreography. The flatwork is composed of figures to be executed based on pre-fixed criteria; whilst the freestyle has an added musical base and, thus, the harmony between movements and music is evaluated. Finally, western horse riding expects figures to be performed with specific clothing and horses.

Interview to Filippo Bologni, international jumping champion

A very important moment was definitively the official testing of the horse riding surface in recycled rubber for jumping, carried out by the champion Filippo Bologni.

The research project on horse’s weelbeing

In collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Perugia, and within the scope of its partnership with UISP-Italian Union Sports for Everybody – Ecopneus has started a research project to test the reduction of accidents to horses’ limbs and the lower incidence of respiratory pathologies thanks to the use of surfaces made with rubber recycled from End-of-Life Tyres.