Bottner is the organizer of the Marlborough Horse Trials, held every year in Prince George’s County at the Rosaryville State Park in Upper Marlboro. The free event will celebrate its 20th anniversary in September, when 200 riders will compete in cross-country jumping, stadium jumping and dressage. Tell me about the Marlborough Horse Trials.
The Marlborough Horse Trials is kind of the triathlon of equestrian sports, because it requires so much of a horse in one day. … As you go up in each phase, the penalties are higher for making mistakes. So it’s kind of like golf; the lower the score, the better, so there’s more penalties in having an error on cross-country — or having what we call a disobedience from your horse — than there are in the other two phases.
