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Horse sport of Vaulting

Sport or show? Monika Winkler-Bischofsberger, lunger of the Swiss team who won the team competition at CHI AL SHAQAB 2015 had a clear answer: “From the horses’ point of view AL SHAQAB’s arena is preferable. The size and the space are much better for a horse than a small and more theatre-like arena like we had at the World Equestrian Games in France”, she said in Doha. Joanne Eccles from Great Britain, winning two medals in Caen, agreed. “It is lovely to have this space. WEG was harder, not only because of the pressure on us.”

A look at the results in Doha shows that vaulting is not only gymnastics on horseback but a true equestrian discipline. All the winners vaulted on horses they were familiar with. The Eccles sisters grew up with their “Harvey”. Thomas Brüsewitz and Airbus are a team since four years. With twenty horses on site in Doha for the competition and two withdrawn shortly before the start, several of the vaulters had to compete on horses they met only for the first time. All experts agree that vaulters need to be gymnasts. Britain’s John Eccles, lunger for his daughters, said: “If you can’t perform on the floor, you can’t do it on a horse. But the horse comes at the end to top it all off.” Chief Judge Helma Schwarzmann, a former gymnast herself, summed it up: “Regardless of all the gymnastic abilities you have more trust and feel more secure when you know your horse.”