Vaulting is daring, graceful and glamorous. Featured here are spectacular women vaulters, whose manoeuvres are performed with precision, and on a cantering horse. These athletes have spent years of dedication and practice for their sport.
SARAH WILLOCK
Equestrian Vaulting has long enjoyed popularity in Europe, but that wasn’t always the case in America, until a few decades ago. It was during this time that Sarah Willock, a young girl from the American Midwest, fell in love with the sport. Though her parents had been apprehensive initially, their daughter’s passion for the sport encouraged them to actively involve themselves in understanding the sport.
Sarah had her first brush with the equine world at the age of nine, when she followed her elder sister into horse riding lessons. Though Sarah loved spending time with the horses, she found only riding a horse, a tad boring. In an interview with a local paper, when asked why she chose Equestrian vaulting, she points out that a combination of horse-riding and gymnastics gave her the perfect platform to showcase both her talents (Source: Twin Cities).
To give fillip to her daughter’s aspiration, Sarah’s mother, Beth, purchased a second-hand surcingle to use, during practice sessions. In vaulting, a surcingle combined with a pad is put on the horse instead of a saddle. After her illustrious career in the sport, she retired in 2012. Staying in touch with her passion, she thereafter went to pursue a successful career as an editor for Equestrian Vaulting magazine
To further their love of the sport, both Sarah and Beth joined hands to start a club named The Northern Lakes Vaulting. In 2015, it had as many as twenty members. The mother-daughter duo is now involved in coaching learners as young as six years old. In an interview to Horse Illustrated’s Julia Arnold, they mention the reason for their increased interest, pointing out that in recent years, riders from other sporting activities have also shown interest in taking up equestrian vaulting owing to the multitude of benefits one can avail from practicing it, but most especially that it aids in improving overall balancing skills.
LAUREN VANLERBERGHE
The nine-time Belgian championship vaulter has been pursuing vaulting for 12 years. She began her journey with gymnastics, as a child, and competed in all-around gymnastics and acrobatics. She found her passion for vaulting, when around 11, she discovered vaulting by seeing the horse show “Apassionata”.
She feels the seamless combination of two of her devotions–gymnastics and horses–has helped her fall in love with vaulting. As an aspiring vaulter, Vanlerberghe’s role model was Joanne Eccles.
On honing her skills and perfecting her moves, she says: “I was mostly a gymnast and needed to go more with the flow of the horse. You can’t do it all on technique and muscles.” By the time she was 14, she earned the 13th position at the Europeans in Le Mans, her first successful level 4.
There are acrobatic moves like the mill, the scissors, flank, or the flag, that are to be performed on the cantering horse, and they can be challenging. “The second part of the flank, the swing from inside, is a challenging one,” says Vanlerberghe. “I need to keep working on a good flow in my routine between the static exercises.”
On her journey, she mentions her companion Strawinski’s contribution has been fundamental. “My horse Strawinski has been my most integral part. He passed away last year due to colic. For 10 years, he was my best buddy in vaulting, and everything around,” she says. “I’m thankful for all that we did together.”
To aspiring vaulters, she suggests: “Have fun! Just love what you do, and do what you love!”
SHEENA BENDIXEN
Danish vaulter Sheena Bendixen has been pursuing vaulting since she was nine years. She started riding dressage at the little age of seven years and jumping at eight. “I thought it was the coolest thing, the combination of being a gymnast on the horse.” Bendixen mentions her role model Rikke Laumann Nielsen assisted her through all her success, and adversities.
Her passion for vaulting coursed deep in her blood as she invested her time and money. “It is now that it begins to be rewarded. It is important that the road up there should be fun,” she says.
Sheena is hopeful as she prepares for the world championship in Herning. “I hope I can show a completely different Sheena, with more dance and expression.”
She owes her success to many people, like, her coach, Julie Fog Møller, who owns the horse, Ramstein, who seeks to ride and take care of him on a daily basis, and so on. “I have my psychologist with whom I talk a lot about my thoughts, and keep holding on to what I can and must believe in myself. I have Rikke Laumann Nielsen, who keeps an eye on me and my training program that I do six times a week. Then, of course, I have the world’s best horse, Klintholms Ramstein, who I cannot do without either. We take good care of him, he is eighteen years’ old, and has been with us since he was seven. I have a very special relationship with Ramstein. I can always count on him,” says Bendixen.
Bendixen mentions she is struggling on honing exercises. “I’m not the agile type. It would be nice if I was agile, that part I’m still working on,”
Her advice to young vaulters is to never give up and always “fight for your dreams”. “Most important of all, always believe in yourself and shut all the negative comments away from yourself. Always see the positive things and remember to be thankful for making mistakes, these are the ones you learn from. So, the more mistakes you make, the more you learn,” says Bendixen.
MEGHAN BENJAMIN
She is a former equestrian vaulter, with a string of accolades attached to her name. She was the 2006 World Equestrian Games (WEG) Women’s Vaulting Champion, WEG Team Silver medalist, 2010, World Championships Team Bronze medalist, and a three-time national champion.
Meghan took up the sport as a young girl, but had to take some time off when she enrolled at the prestigious Cornell University for her undergraduate studies. She plunged back into the sport when she learned about the 2010 edition of WEG. It was then that she began putting together her plan for preparation and training, while simultaneously finishing up her senior year at university.
She had to work around a number of logistical shortcomings in order to prepare for the championships, but that didn’t dampen her spirits. She had to find a new horse for training as her previous one had been retired. She also had to find a new lunger to train with (in Equestrian vaulting, the lunger controls the horse’s performance from the centre of the ring, and consequently a vaulter’s performance as well). Apart from that, she also had to connect with her personal trainer who lived in California, thousands of miles from where she lived, in New York through virtual modes. It took some effort on her part but in time she was able to sort out these issues and train well.
