Horsey handstands

3/03/2010 11:08:00 a.m.

Take a ride with a team of equestrian vaulters. Photo: Michelle Davies.

IT’S hard enough executing a neat handstand or cartwheel on terra firma let alone on horseback.
The Kapiti Equestrian and Vaulting Club will demonstrate the art of performing tricks on trotting or cantering horses at Waitangi Park this weekend, and the club’s manager Catarina Strom encourages children interested in any aspect of riding to take part in one of the workshops.
Inexperienced riders attempting to stand on a horse for the first time is dangerous, says Strom, so she will teach the difficult moves on a barrel instead.
That’s not to say horse riding is any more dangerous than other sports, says Strom - before describing her worst horseback accident seven years ago.
“I got bucked off the horse and kicked in the face, six teeth were knocked out and I had to have bone grafting.” Other than that incident, there have been “a few falls here and there but nothing serious”.
Strom has been vaulting and riding since she was a child, in Sweden, and as she got older took part in competitive dressage, show jumping and vaulting.
“When I finished school I was tossing up between studying and traveling.”
She chose the latter, ended up in New Zealand, and helped set up The Kapiti Equestrian and Vaulting Centre 10 years ago.
Working as a riding teacher and trainer at the club leaves the 29 year old with no time to compete or orchestrate somersaults and flick flacks off horses, but she is happy to focus her passion on up-and-coming riders, in particular, the first Kiwi team to compete in the Equestrian World Games.
In September Strom will take a group aged between 11 and 25, and one horse to the games, to be held in Kentucky.
The competing horse took two years to train, but the timeframe was more varied with the people.
“It doesn’t take long if you have a background in gymnastics, have a feel for horses and aren’t scared of them. Most world class vaulters start when they are five.”
The Kapiti Vaulting Club workshops and demonstrations, Waitangi Park, 2pm-4pm, March 6-7, kapitiequestrian.com.

Email This Print

0 Comments

No comments.

Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Fringe Festival

Briefs

Plane direction
A new training academy will open in June to help fill a shortage of qualified air traffic controllers in the Middle East and Asia. Global-ATS, a privately owned UK-based academy, will operate from the Wellington School of Business and Government campus. The academy will open with three staff, up to 10 air traffic control students and 70 associated safety management course participants.
Here comes the sun
WELLINGTON city council is one of several New Zealand councils signing up for Solar Promise, a campaign launched last July by the Nelson Environment Centre. The scheme aims to take away barriers to using solar energy and make the technology more affordable. City Council is working with the Regional Council to develop a targeted rate for solar hot water systems, as well as setting up an online map to indicate levels of solar radiation across the city.
Parsons stays put
JULIAN Parsons says his bookstore Parsons Books and Music isn’t going anywhere, despite news that brother Roger’s Auckland Parsons store is closing its doors. Parsons opened in 1958 on Lambton Quay and is still on the same site today.
Bikes allowed
Bikes will soon be allowed on trains on the Johnsonville line at all times following a review by the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Councillor Daran Ponter says that the introduction of the new Matangi units on the line, scheduled for mid-March 2012, means that there will be greater capacity than currently provided by the English Electric units.
Carter clean and green
TEAM members at Carter Observatory have been recognised as keen greenies. Carter has won a Qualmark Enviro-Bronze Award for high standards in environmental practices including energy efficiency, waste management and water conservation. More than 700 businesses carry the Enviro Award mark.
Bowling for a market
MORE than 25 stalls will be waiting behind the fence at the 100 year old Hataitai Bowling Club at the suburb’s Community Market on Saturday. The stalls include sweet treats, produce, books and vintage clothing. The market runs the first Saturday of each month.
Hataitai Community Market, Bowling Club, 9am-1pm, February 4.
Iconic tour
THE second largest wooden building in the world graces Lambton Quay near the Cenotaph and it’s now open on Saturdays for free tours. The colonial-style Government Building features a Kauri-clad interior and cast iron fireplaces.
Government Building Open Day tours, 11am and 2pm, Saturdays, until March 31.
Get arty
FOR those who would like to progress from finger-painting, artist Stephanie Woodman is running classes to teach drawing and painting in a range of styles and mediums. Sessions include acrylic painting techniques, glazing, watercolour and abstract, and there are special classes for teenagers and kids.
Stephanie Woodman art classes, Toi Poneke, Feb 7 – April 5.
Wheels are turning
WELLINGTON Regional Council’s Daran Ponter and Paul Bruce are to present the Bus Review, a proposal for a major shakeup of bus services in the city. It’s also a chance for the public to discuss their ideas and issues.
Bus Review, Crossways Community Centre, 7.30pm, February 7.
Violinist awarded
CONGRATULATIONS to violinist Minsi Yang, recently awarded The Elman Poole Music scholarship.
The scholarship is an annual award for up and coming New Zealand instrumentalists to train with the London orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia.
Yang gained her music degree from Victoria University, before heading to Auckland to study for her Masters degree.
Leap into song
LOCAL songwriters will this month participate in February Album Writing Month, an international songwriting event that usually challenges participants to write a song every two days for the whole month. But it’s a leap year this year, so songwriters have to write 14 and a half songs in 29 days, the ‘half song’ being a collaboration with another writer. At least 12 Wellington songwriters have signed up to take part. ‘Fawmers’ will post audio recordings of their songs on http://fawm.org
Coastal tunes
THE Tora Coast in the Wairarapa will this Waitangi weekend host a music festival celebrating good food and good sounds. TORA!TORA!TORA! features Imon Starr aka Olmecha the Relic, Jon McLeary and The Spines, Louis Baker, Vanessa Stacey and Conor McCabe. This is the third time the festival will take place.

Reader's Poll

DO you support Wellington City Council’s move to clear Occupy Wellington protestors from Civic Square?