The History of Vaulting
 When
dealing with any subject it is always
interesting to know some of its history.
And the history of vaulting is long and
rich.
Vaulting is an ancient
sport, dating back to man’s domestication
of the horse. It was invented as a way
to mount and dismount a horse before
there were saddles and stirrups. (Stirrups
were unknown in Europe until the 10th
century.) The early riders jumped onto
the backs of their horses using essentially
the same technique as today’s vault
on.
Early equestrian art
reveals these ancient vaulting techniques.
The earliest example, with a person standing
on a horse’s back while holding
the reins, was found in southern Scandinavia
and dates back from the bronze age.
 A
beautiful fresco found at Knossos shows
the Minoan art of bull vaulting in ancient
Crete. Bulls were worshipped by the Minoans,
and bull vaulting was an initiation rite
of youth. It took great skill to vault
over a moving bull without being killed.
Boys and girls grabbed the bull’s
horns and vaulted in a fluid motion onto
the animal’s back into a stand
and then a vault off. While extremely
dangerous, this activity was a great
honor for any Cretan girl or boy.
In war, in sport, and
in culture, the horse played an important
role in Ancient Greece. Used for cavalry
training, vaulting was a survival skill
for battle. It helped the soldiers evade
their enemies and retrieve fallen comrades.
Cavalrymen used a "hidden ride",
a tactic where they rode on the side
of the horse (similar to today's vaulting
freestyle exercises of hanging or lying).
The "hidden ride" made them
a smaller, if not invisible target for
the enemy. These skills were used by
mounted regiments all over the world
until the horse was replaced by mechanized
warfare. As the skills were refined,
contests were held, and vaulting, or
artistic riding, was born.
 Xenophon,
the Greek General who wrote the famous
book The Art of Horsemanship over
2000 years ago, when there were no saddles
and equestrians rode bareback or upon
a cloth, gives instructions for a vault
on—
First, then, with
the left hand take up the halter…in
springing to his place he must draw
up the body with the left hand, keeping
his right stiff, for in mounting thus
he will not look ungraceful even from
behind. The leg should be kept bent,
the knee must not touch the horse’s
back…I think it good that the
horseman should practice springing
up from the off side as well, on the
chance that he may happen to be leading
his horse with the left hand and holding
his spear in his right.
Riders competed in
the discipline in the classical Olympic
Games. Vaulting competitions were included
at festivals held in the Parthenon in
the fifth century. These tested the skills
of the rider, especially his ability
to remain standing on a moving horse.
During the Middle Ages,
knights performed elaborate exercises
on horseback in armor. Jousting tournaments
prepared them for riding into battle.
As they had to carry a sword or lance,
this required them to be balanced and
secure in the saddle to withstand a blow
from the opposition.
The early Native Americans,
who were consummate horsemen, also used
vaulting techniques in battle.
In the age of the
Renaissance, when culture was fashionable,
vaulting became part of a nobleman's
education. In fact, vaulting derived
its name from the French words, La
Voltige. Louis XIV of France, the
famous 'Sun King' frequently held spectacular
equestrian entertainments in his riding
school at Versailles. In similar vein
Emperor Charles VI of Austria founded
the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and
the Lipizzaner breed of horse. (Today
at the Spanish
Riding School, riders may spend two
years on the end of the longe developing
the independent seat before ever touching
the reins.)
In the early years
of the eighteenth century Jacob Bates,
who had been a famous riding master in
France until financial problems after
the War of the Spanish Succession obliged
him to return to England, entertained
country-fair goers with his exhibitions
of horsemanship. No one had ever before
seen riders standing in the saddle, turning
somersaults, riding backwards or mounting
and dismounting a galloping horse. His
exhibitions of horsemanship were a rollicking
success.
 Others
soon followed on Bates’ coattails.
In 1769 a cavalry sergeant gave us the
circus as we know it today. Philip Astley
left the British Army and found that
he could control and show off his horses
for entertainment in a small area or
ring. From hs exhibitions of trick riding
in London was born the now traditional
circus ring. It was easier for Astley
to keep his balance if the horse cantered
in a circle rather than in a straight
line and he found that he had more contact
with his audience if they were seated
in the round than on one side, as in
the Roman circus. (Horsemanship exhibitions
had until this time been performed in
a straight line in a rectangular arena.)
His program included clowns, rope artists,
and acrobatics as well as high school
acts, trick riding, and ballet on horseback.
Astley lived and worked in London, where
his amphitheatre became the home of circus
and equestrian drama for over 100 years.
Today, the modern circus would be incomplete
without horses.
Vaulting competitions
continued to be held through the years.
The Olympic Games of 1920 included vaulting
as an equestrian sport. The teams were
from the cavalry regiments, as were the
competitors in all the equestrian sports.
The men performed exercises on and over
a stationary horse with the aid of a
springboard as well as on a moving horse.
Four nations were represented with Belgium
taking the gold medal followed by France,
Holland, and Sweden.
Modern vaulting was
developed in postwar Germany as a way
to introduce children to equestrian sports.
The teachers were military men. In response
to the enormous popularity of the sport,
a national vaulting school for horses,
coaches, and riders was established in
Hohenhameln, Germany in 1950. Today there
are over 100,000 vaulters in Germany,
and vaulting is considered by many German
equestrians to be a prerequisite to safe
riding. It is of note that approximately
50 percent of riders holding competitive
licenses were vaulters in their early
years.
 When
American dressage judge Elizabeth
Searle saw a vaulting demonstration
at the 1956 Olympic Games in Stockholm,
Sweden, she thought the skills it required
would help members of her Santa Cruz
(California) Pony Club. Purchasing a
grainy, 16-millimeter film of basic vaulting
exercises to use as a guide, she brought
the sport to the United States. When
she took over the running of a riding
school with a high accident rate, she
insisted on all pupils gaining a proficiency
certificate in vaulting before being
allowed to join a riding class. The accident
rate dropped dramatically.
The American
Vaulting Association (AVA) was
established in 1966, and regional clubs
were created around the country. The
sport has over 700
clubs in the United States.
in 1983, vaulting became
one of the seven equestrian disciplines
(Dressage, Driving, Endurance, Jumping,
Reining , the Three Day Event, and Vaulting.
) recognized by the Fédération
Equestre Internationale (FEI) for
international competition.
Today, vaulters from
around the globe vie for championships
at the World Equestrian Games.
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