At a ranch in Lompoc, 10-year-old Phoenix Jones balances on a horse as it trots around a ring. But she’s not in the saddle. She’s standing on one foot.
“I’ve always wanted to do gymnastics, and I love horses,” she says. “So it’s fun to be able to do both at the same time.”
Her sport is known as equestrian vaulting, and Jones and the three other young riders who make up the Lompoc Pony Club Vaulting Team are preparing for their next competition at La Salle Stables on March 28.
The vaulters take turns in the arena, polishing up their choreographed routines on Henry, a stocky, dapple-gray draft horse belonging to Peggy Van Hook, the club’s leader. Peggy stands in the center of the ring with a whip, guiding Henry in a circle, while the girls perform on his back.
Three days a week, the vaulters rehearse their music-choreographed routines on a barrel outside the ring. They go on their trial runs with Henry twice a week. They can choose any moves they like—from cartwheels to flips and handstands—as long as the actions are safe for the horse. Henry is equipped with gymnast rings to give the vaulters hand- and footholds so they can perform their moves without falling off.
“It’s really hard work and very tiring for the vaulters,” Peggy says. “It requires a lot of core strength and arm strength.”
When she discovered the sport at a church camp five years ago, Peggy’s daughter Linda had little experience riding horses. The oldest of the team members at 17, she’s been vaulting ever since.
“I liked that I didn’t have to control the horse,” Linda says. “When I first started, I wasn’t the best vaulter. Now that I’m getting older and stronger, I’m getting pretty good.”
There are three levels of vaulting competition: bronze, silver, and gold. At the bronze level, Linda placed as high as third in competitive vaulting events, for which vaulters must perform both one-minute freestyle and compulsory programs. Judges score each program based on composition and presentation of moves, and the scores are added together to produce an overall score. As in gymnastics, vaulters are also scored on their mounts and dismounts.
According to Peggy, the regional competitions are more about the fun of the experience, as opposed to winning.
“What we fell in love with right away was the way that all the teams and competitors support each other,” Peggy says. “If they fall, you’re disappointed for them. If your horse goes lame, somebody else will let you use theirs so you can compete. When we’re out there doing it, everybody is encouraging each other.”
Desiree Clark, the youngest of the Lompoc vaulters at 9 years old, took gymnastics for more than a year before seeing Linda vaulting at a Kids Day event.
“I saw her doing it and it looked like a lot of fun,” Clark says. “I thought, hey, I want to do that. It took a lot of hard work.”
The sport is inclusive—vaulters with mental and physical disabilities compete in competitions alongside the able-bodied—and horse ownership isn’t a requirement to participate. Peggy explains that horses are shared among teams during competitions and practices.
“You can use any horse for this, but generally people use bigger horses, warm bloods, sport horses, and drafts,” she says. “Horses must be easygoing and very tolerant for them to let you stand on their necks, but we teach all of our vaulters to be very respectful of the horse.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas thought horse vaulting involved a pole and a high jump bar. Set him straight at jthomas@santa mariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 19-26, 2009.