“I don’t deal well with mass numbers,” admits hunter/jumper trainer Mark Bone. That’s been a good thing for his clients at Huntover in the Los Angeles area’s Hidden Valley. A Midwest native who cut his teeth working for top East Coast trainers, Mark describes Huntover as a “boutique style” business.
His clientele typically consists of seven or eight people and approximately 20 horses and that’s the way he likes it. “My training style is to create the best plan and program for each client, based on their goals and aspirations,” Mark says. It doesn’t matter what the specifics of each student’s competitive ambitions are, it matters that they have clear goals and are prepared to do what it takes to make progress toward them.
A 73-year-old amateur rider gets the same level of dedication from Mark as the talented and ambitious pony division competitors at his barn. In between, there are students like Corinne Miller, who won last year’s 12-and-under Onondarka Finals and this year is stepping into the 3’6” Equitation and Junior Hunter ranks.
Goal setting is a formal affair at Huntover. “Each year I sit down with each student, and their parents if they are juniors, and everybody puts their cards on the table. We need to have everybody’s thoughts out there so we know we are on the same page.”
From there, Mark sets a plan and gets his team of barn manager Roberto Gonzales and riding and coaching assistant Tasha Visokay on the case. In this way, the plan for each student is reflected in the horse’s care and in all lessons.
This year has been a transition year for many of Mark’s young riders who are moving out of the ponies and into the 3’6” Equitation and Hunter divisions. Throughout his career, helping kids grow has been Mark’s main inspiration. “Kids were my passion to start with and they really inspire me,” he says. “Seeing what they are figuring out and watching them grow is what I really love.” To be safe and successful over the higher fences, Mark’s young students must step up their commitment to their sport and the trainer is proud of how his students have done exactly that. “It’s not easy to be competitive at 3’6”,” the trainer observes. “The horses are part of it and the kids must feel confident and everybody has to step up their game.”
Mark had already accumulated an impressive resume before he moved to California 12 years ago. He began riding in Germany, where his military father was stationed at the time. Throughout high school in the family’s native St. Louis area, he competed successfully under Micaela Kennedy’s tutelage. He knew by his final junior year that he wanted to focus on equitation and jumping. He also knew that something was missing from the flatwork part of his equestrian education. “If you’re going to do it, do it right,” was the advice from Mark’s father and with that he moved to Virginia to ride with dressage trainer Elizabeth Madlender. The dressage emphasis nicely filled in the gaps in his knowledge and experience. From there, Mark moved on to work for Mike Henaghan and Katie Prudent. Both experiences greatly influenced his own direction and success as a professional.
Mark admires Mike’s great attention to details and Katie’s toughness and determination and he prides himself on reflecting those traits in his own career. After those apprenticeships, Mark set out on his own and did very well on the East Coast. He came west at the invitation of Charles Bronson, who needed someone to take over his family’s training business in Calabasas and that was the beginning of Huntover’s California run.
Thanks to its relatively small size, Huntover is well known for the camaraderie among its clients. “Everything sort of happens here as a team,” says Mark, who was heading off to a client’s birthday party on the afternoon of California Riding’s interview. “It’s very much a family atmosphere; very social and we are all quite close.” That quality is important to Mark. Prospective new students “need to be the right fit,” he notes. “For them as well as for us.”
For more information on Huntover, contact Mark Bone at 818-414-0278.