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.