Vaulting Exhibition Highlights November 4 Evening At Metropolitan National Horse Show

10/20/2004    By: By Mary Hilton

World-renowned vaulter Kerith Ann Lemon is bringing her troupe of seven vaulters to Pier 94 and the Show Piers on the Hudson to perform an exhibition during the November 4 evening session of The Metropolitan National Horse Show. Scheduled for November 3-7, 2004, in New York City, the Metropolitan National Horse Show features five days and five nights of competition with more than 80 hunter and jumper events and a total purse of $310,000. The vaulting exhibition will be performed during the intermission between the two featured competitions on November 4–the first round of the $50,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Liberty Cup and the first round of the $100,000 Open Jumper Metropolitan Cup. The evening session of the horse show begins at 7:30 p.m.

The vaulters will perform Individual and Team compulsory movements and Freestyle to music. Narration during the performance will describe the action. “We’re doing the demonstration to educate the horse world and spectators about the sport,” said Lemon, who is the group’s director and mentor. The sport dates back to the Roman Empire, and vaulting is recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and has been a competitive sport in the U.S. for 35 years. As of 2002, vaulting is one of the seven United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) High Performance disciplines, joining show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance and reining. “Day by day the sport is evolving and new movements are being invented and named,” said Lemon. “That’s really fun.”

Described as gymnastics and acrobatics performed from the back of a moving horse, vaulting requires teamwork between the vaulter, the horse and the longeur who controls the horse in a circle on a longe line. Vaulters compete as individuals, in pairs or as a team. In team Freestyle competition there are base people and flyers, stacked moves and holds and up to three vaulters can be on the horse at the same time. They perform special mounts, swings up to flying arabesques or whatever they can do and still be in harmony with the horse and secure in the move's execution. In the Individual Freestyle, vaulters choreograph exciting moves to match their music and personalities as they showcase their dance with the horse. Movements include handstands, cartwheels and one-legged stands.

For the upcoming exhibition at The Metropolitan National Horse Show, the vaulters, who range in age from 12 to 21, will focus on the Freestyle. “If you get really technical, there’s a lot of regulations about what types of movements you should have in the routine to create a great composition–it’s similar to the dressage freestyle test,” explained Lemon. “But basically, the mind’s the limit. Anything you can imagine and accomplish on a horse is allowed. It’s a really creative sport.” She noted that the draw to vaulting is especially tantalizing to young people because, “almost anybody at any level can contribute to the growth of this sport.”

The vaulters scheduled to appear on November 4 at The Metropolitan National Horse Show are:
--Mary McCormick, 21, Silver Star Vaulters, Springfield, TN – National Women’s Individual Champion Silver Level 2002, currently ranked Number 3 in the US;
--Elizabeth Brigham, 16, Great Falls Vaulting Club, Potomac, MD – Silver Level Individual, placed top 10 in the Silver Level at Nationals 2004;
--Anna VanVranken, 12, Shooting Stars Vaulters, Mays Landing, NJ – Silver Level Individual;
--Sarah d'Auriol, 12, Blue Star Vaulters, Suffolk, VA – Bronze Level Individual;
--Ali Williams, 16, Pacific Coast Vaulters, San Francisco, CA – Silver Level Individual;
--Jessie Price, 15, Vaulting Visions, Swedesboro, NJ – Silver Level Individual; and
--Katie Haynie, 13, Virginia Vaulters, Oak Hill, VA – 2004 USEF/AVA National Vaulting Championships, 7th place Silver Individual and two-time Gran