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Vaulting Home |
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Equestrian Vaulting is best described as gymnastics to music on the back of a moving horse. Humans have been jumping on and off moving animals for millennia, as is attested by cave paintings in Scandinavia and vases and murals in Greece, but modern vaulting only began to develop as a sport in the 1950’s. In 1983 the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the world governing body for equestrian sports, accepted Vaulting as an equestrian discipline. The first World Championships were held in Switzerland in 1986, and now nearly 20 countries practice the sport. SANEF officially recognised vaulting in 2001. In 2004 South Africa send the first ever African entry to the World Championships in Austria. The vaulter Isaac Kesebile was the recipient of a ‘Wild Card’ place. Isaac won the Wild Card section of the competition and ended 10th in the small finals.
Vaulting is the one equestrian discipline where up to 9 people can compete with one horse at the same time. Also unlike other disciplines, it is not necessary for a team of vaulters to have their own horses all the costs of keeping and competing a horse can be shared. This makes vaulting a wonderful discipline for development, since the considerable costs of equestrian competition can be reduced for each individual participating. Nevertheless, sponsorship is always welcome and would enable us to train judges and improve facilities to international standard, and set up vaulting in underprivileged areas identifying potential vaulters for development.
Vaulting especially at the higher levels, is a dramatic and beautiful sport to watch and, like show jumping, can be enjoyed by spectators who are not experts.
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