vaulting

[Silvia]

Anyone on this board ever tried vaulting? I love to watch it - it must be a lot of fun. But doesn't all the jumping on and off damage the horse's back? Especially with two people exercising at the same time!
Just wondering....

[Somethingroyal]

I tried it once, takes a ton of balance, I amire the people that can do backflips on a cantering horse. I wondered thet too... Though they have pretty big pads and everything. I enjoyed it, but am too scared to even stand without footholds:) It was so long ago though, i wanna try again ;)

[Wally]

We used to have a Haflinger vaulting team. Poor Solfried was the lucky vaulting horse. He used to wear a vaulting roller with some high density foam under it so anyone standing on him would not hurt him. He never objected so was either a confirmed stoic or it didn't hurt him. Mind you the combined weight of the team wouldn't have come to much!
Once when Solly was off work we had to find another vaulting horse in a hurry, finally after a lot of searching and trying out different horses my Haffy stallion had to step in and do the job. He took to it like a duck to water, The finale was 4 kids would leapfrog onto him from behind, the first would shuffle as far forwards as possible and sit, the next would kneel down, the next kneel up and the last would stand on his bum, all arms out streached! Then two kids would cartwheel in from either side and do hand stands up his shoulders!
And who says stallions are untrustworthy! He loved it and if anyone was to fall off he would stop rather than tread on them. He's still a daft old fool but I'm not sure he'd stand for such daftness in his old age.

[fionahogg]

That sounds wonderful Wally! It must have looked great! But I bet it took ages to perfect?!!

[Wally]

It's amazing how wiry and agile some kids are. It didn't take that long. I used to try my hand at some of the simpler moves, I can still do one or two!!

[Showjumper]

I'd love to try vaulting. I used to mess about at my old riding school (I found an old vaulting saddle in the boiler room, cleaned it up and put it in the tack room). I got really good at vaulting on and off, and perfected the full scissors etc. I am now an expert at mounting horses bareback. The tallest I've managed was 15.2hh! :) Are there any horsey holiday camps that do vaulting?

[JackiAH]

Oh I have a book about vaulting, I wish I could do that! It looks awful fun, but I know I'd never be able to do some of the moves...

Geez, Wally, they did cartwheels off the horse? Are they insane?!?! llolololol!

Oh yeah, my old trainer told me that she used to do vaulting, but that she was never any good at it (she desperately wanted to race thoroughbreds, but at her height (5'9) she couldnt) but she told me a bit about it... Seemed so fast-paced~

Cheers

[k9 Equine]

Sounds like a fun way to learn how to fall! If you've learned how to do all kinds of different dismounts it could come in handy avoiding major injuries if/when thrown.

~ KE