How do you become an equestrian vaulter?

You've made a start on your modest journey as a riding enthusiast. At a certain level of skill, you've felt you have a particular gift for vaulting. If you're planning on a career as an equestrian vaulter, the details set out here will be useful to you.

Following the classic route

The equestrian vaulter is an expert performer of figures on horseback or on the ground, with the horse as their partner. It's a very risky discipline that calls for confidence and dexterity. The selection criteria for taking it up are therefore very strict. The classic route is in fact the one best suited to spotting talent and bringing it out for your own fulfilment.

The classic route means learning to ride from a very young age. That assumes you've enrolled at a riding school, where you learn the foundations of your future career under the supervision of an instructor. Every instruction must be followed to the letter if you're to achieve complete mastery of your art. That means having the right equipment to hand, in particular the lead rope described on La Sellerie Française, along with rigour and personal discipline.

Once the basic stage is behind them, the rider is encouraged to learn plain riding. Having had time to do some vaulting, they then need the foundations of an ordinary rider. This gives them a little more general knowledge of the field. They genuinely need it in order to pass the various grades that give access to professional competition level. To do this, the work must be well directed and the guidance followed.

The classic route allows you to take up equestrian vaulting very young. The idea is to rely on your youth to awaken your full potential. Adults can try too. In that case you simply need to pay attention to your level of ability so you can flourish once you've discovered a gift for vaulting. Here it would be wise to let professionals judge your capacity to take up equestrian vaulting.

Learning vaulting at a performing arts centre

The second option open to an enthusiast keen to become an equestrian vaulter is to train at a performing arts centre. To reach the summit of the art, they must become the pupil of the master vaulter of the main troupe. With him, they will learn as he himself learned from another master. In this case, the training is driven by the need to pass on a whole body of know-how, an art, to another generation, for future shows worthy of the lineage.

Practising under such conditions is always a matter of discipline, rigour, availability and self-giving. You need passion, but also a methodical approach. This alternative can always work as long as the apprentice doesn't ease off. They give their best in order to reach the summit of the art being handed down. Obviously, at some point they will have to add their own personal touch in order to put their signature on their artistic work.

This route works even for someone without talent. At the very least, you'll come away with the basics of equestrian vaulting. Here, the master passes on the tips, the techniques and the movements acquired over years of experience to a novice he sees as his successor.