SA Vaulting Championships

On this day the 26th of September 2021 the South Australian Vaulting Championship was held at Danson Dressage just outside of Birdwood. Unfortunately the National Vaulting Championships had to be down sized due to border restrictions. Now I hear yourself asking what Vaulting is, well let me explain.

Vaulting is in short, gymnastics on horseback and combines the skills of both gymnastics and horsemanship. It provides for both individual and also for team participation in sport. Vaulting improves a rider's seat, balance, rhythm and coordination as well as their confidence on the horse. It's a great sport if you like horses and gymnastics and as the horse is normally owned by the club and shared between the riders the costs involved are split between everyone.

The youngest rider today was 6 years old and the oldest was... well that's a secret.

Different categories included Kür (individual freestyle), pas-de-deux (pairs) and team competitions with up to 6 participants including up to 3 at a time on the horse or stationary pommel. Higher grades riders perform both more difficult movements and the horse that they are on is moving faster.

Nil injuries or incidents for a state level competition shows how safe this sport is and how well organized this event was. Please forgive the poor photography and filmography skills but below is my attempt to capture the talents of the SA Vaulting Championships competitors.

A big thank you to Tanna from Body Confident Personal Training & Massage for coming along today and well done for completing her Certificate IV in Healthcare (Ambulance) as well as learning more about the equine muscular structure. Her lucky number also came up in the raffle scoring her a nice bottle of red.

I hope to see you all again in the not too distant future.