 Parents
Vaulting
is not just for kids! We have several
adult vaulters on our team. Here's
how one of our parents joined the sport—
First, I was taking
my children to vaulting practice. Then
I began participating in team warmups
because it was just too cold to stand
around in the barn. Before I knew it,
I was practicing kür moves on the
barrel—only for fun, mind you.
Then I began longing the horse at practice
sessions. Pretty soon, I'm attending
clinics. And suddenly, as a lifelong
horsewoman in my forties, I'm aspiring
to stand on a draft horse's back at a
canter!
I'm going to let
you in on a little inside information. There's
something about this sport the captures
the imagination, sparks the spirit,
and let's you soar. That's why vaulters
vault. And that's why they work so
hard.
At every practice our
vaulters are working to strengthen what
we call their core. It's worth
every drop of sweat to get to that place
where you are dancing—even
as awkwardly as I may sometimes be in
my forty-something body—with
the horse. Through situps, handstands,
pushups, plies, battements, jumps, arabesques,
etc., we condition our bodies and our
core muscles so we can achieve harmony
of motion with each other and our vaulting
horse!
And, in our vaulting
practice, the core is not merely
physical.
 I've
had the privilege of watching our kids
as they are developing a core that will
serve them well throughout their lives.
They are learning to be part of a team.
They are building self-confidence and
character. They are learning empathy
for each other as well as their equestrian
teammate. They are using their creativity
and imagination. They are facing the
challenges of doing things they have
never done before. (And perhaps thought
they couldn’t!)
The mount, mill,
flag, scissors, stand, flank, the beautiful
freestyle moves—these are
all things I'd never done before. And
if I'd given it too much thought, as
we grownups are prone to do, I probably
would have said I couldn't!
Now there's a vaulting
barrel in my garage and a big, black
Percheron vaulting-horse-to-be in my
barn.
Well, here's to the
unexpected.
Here's to those heady words "I
can." They have the potential
to ignite a fire in each one of us,
whether we're young or old or somewhere
in between.
And here's to the core and
the magic of our sport—vaulting!
—Kimberly
Hamerdinger, AVA
(We'll
be posting more photos of our adult
vaulters here in the future.)
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