HoofPrint Vaulters

What an amazing time we had at White Forest Farm Equestrian Centertre this past weekend! Vaulting competition, clinic, craft (we made a Ewen vault barrel! ❤️) and ended it all with White Water Rafting! Everyone had a blast! Thank you so much White Forest & Shaina Hammond it was a great show and tons of fun!

😀👀

Artistry in the air! 🎨✈️

Every routine is a chance to push the limits and flip, twist and jump to greatness in a showdown of strength and elegance! 🤸✨

📸©️Andreas Steindl

We had an amazing time hosting a development show & clinic this past weekend with clinician Daniel Janes. A huge thank you to everyone who attended/participated, you made it a pleasure to host!
Special thanks to Valeska & my vaulting families who went above & beyond from the food, the raffle baskets, club shirts, last minute score cards, getting sponsors to organizing parking. You were what made the weekend run so smoothly and I can’t thank you enough! ❤️

I have sat down to write something several times for a week…. My emotions just kept getting in the way 😢
The hardest thing is knowing the right time to let go. At the age of 25 I laid my special boy Leo to rest alongside his forever soul mate Bella on a beautiful day last Tuesday. No words describe the presence of Leo and what a fabulous vaulting partner he was for 16 years for so many vaulters.
Miss you forever big guy. I hope you and Bella are grazing in knee deep grass somewhere beautiful. My heart rests easier knowing you are with your special girl 💔

🇬🇧 And just when you thought the horse was only 25%…
let’s ask the real question:

Do we actually see the horse in the other scores too? 🐰

Short answer:
Yes. Very much yes.

Because the horse doesn’t stay politely inside its 25% box.

⸻

🔸 In the Artistic Score (20% – Harmony with the Horse)
Harmony is not just a nice word judges use when they’re in a good mood.

It means:
• Can the horse actually handle what the athlete is doing?
• Does the movement stay fluent?
• Does everything look like one team… or like a negotiation?

If the horse struggles, braces, or simply disagrees…
the artistic score quietly starts to slide.

Because “artistic” without harmony is just… effort.

⸻

🔸 In the Technique Score
Here the horse becomes very honest.
• If the horse breaks the canter → technique drops
• If the rhythm is unstable → technique drops
• If the horse is not supportive → everything suddenly looks harder

And then… the famous moment:

The final dismount.

If the horse:
• slows down
• trots
• or (in rare dramatic cases) stops

Then yes:
• Horse score goes down
• Technique score goes down

Because landing out of a correct, balanced canter…
is kind of the point.

⸻

So no — the horse is not just 25%.

It’s in the artistic.
It’s in the technique.
It’s basically everywhere… quietly influencing everything.

And once again:
when the horse says no,
the scores tend to agree.

🐰

Merry Christmas from the biggest present under the tree!🎄🎅🏻 Meet Freya! ❤️

Finally have a spare moment so can post some pics from our last Ontario Equestrian Vaulting Association competition in Spencerville. Thank you for another great competitive show season!
Congratulations to all our vaulters! Vaulting is a physically demanding sport and these girls worked very hard all summer, battled nerves (for some its was their 1st big show) and supported each other throughout. I couldn’t ask for a better group!
Special thanks to Emma McNeill for putting your own ambitions aside to help develop our very green horse and my hubby Kev for driving our precious cargo safely on these long trips! And of course parents….where would be without you? Thank you sooo much! ❤️
Just realized I did not thank Brittany Todd Photography for the amazing pics! See one you like? Please visit her FB or web page and support Brittany!

Leo enjoying retirement with his favourite girl Bella ❤️

Day 2 at the Ontario Development Show series did not disappoint. We all took home some new things to try at home, made some new friends and had some pretty tired vaulters by the end of the day! Thank you so much White Forest Farm Equestrian Center for hosting and Shaina Hammond for a fabulous weekend of learning.

Day 1 of the Ontario Development Show Series is a wrap! A great learning experience for the girls and they all did AMAZING! 🏆
Cat was her usual wonderful self 💕 😊 And we ate looking forward to Day 2.