Thursday Video: Mechanical Vaulting Horse

Like an Equicizer for vaulters!

Vaulting is an equestrian sport that still boggles my mind just a little bit: part dance, part gymnastics routine, part horseback riding, I still wonder who was the first person to decide to put all of these things together and turn it into a competitive sport.

While all of us in any discipline know that there is no true substitute for practicing on the back of a horse, the truth of the matter is that there are times horseless practice is necessary, and in vaulting I would imagine this is perhaps more true: horses only have so many lunging circles in their bodies, after all, and when lunging, you also need a handler to keep the horse going for you.

So this nifty invention looks like a good transitional step between theory and reality on the horse’s back — check out this mechanical vaulting trainer:

Truly, there is no substitute for the true cadence of a horse’s canter and the constantly-shifting warm body that requires impeccable balance, but this looks like a pretty convenient alternative for training purposes!

Go vaulting. And go riding!