Former Events

June 2008: Western Week. Charley was "Horse of the Day" at the Western Week on June 19. About 10 members of A Vaulting Connection and Charley and Goldie went to Caledonia for one long afternoon. They demonstrated vaulting on the horse and on the barrel and offered "hands on try it yourself".
Celebration Vaulting Show. Caspian became "Horse of the Show" at the Celebration Vaulting Show in Augusta, MI June 21 Only two days later we went to a big vaulting competition in Augusta, Michigan. The eight vaulters earned lots of ribbons and Caspian became "Horse of the Show". The Team Spirit was once again remarkable and everybody had a great time.

Octoberfest Vaulting Extravaganza, October 5 to 7, 2006

Excitement filled the crisp autumn morning, October 7, 2006 as vaulters from all over Michigan began warming up their limbs as well as their horses. Meanwhile, A Vaulting Connection busily made last minute preparations for a busy day. Understandably the local team was nervous. Who could have even imagined that a vaulting event of this nature would be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan? Let's face it, A Vaulting Connection LLC was only recently established in 2005 by Karin Schmidt and vaulting was unheard of in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area previously. As the mist lifted, and the sun traversed across the horse trailers, the reality of a dream was recognized.

Out of that dream/mist walked Emma Seely, who basically is the most successful coach in the world right now. After all, she was the coach of Team USA who took Silver as well as the personal coach for Megan Benjamin who took individual Gold in the World Equestrian Games 2006. Emma was the featured guest at the Octoberfest Vaulting Extravaganza weekend; she came to Grand Rapids to encourage Region X, by lending her expertise as a judge and clinician.

During the morning, approximately 60 vaulters from across the state performed their compulsory routines on the barrel in one of the buildings or on their horses in an indoor arena. As the day warmed, all activities were moved outside to the outdoor arena and the compulsories transitioned to free-style performances. Approximately 200 spectators from the local community, who had never even heard of vaulting, sat on the edges of their seats watching our amazing sport. Vaulting presentations included individual, pair or team vaulting from beginners to Silver Medallists. Participating teams were: A Vaulting Connection (Grand Rapids), Agape Vaulters (Eau Claire), Diamond E (Three Rivers), Friesian Connection (Dorr), Michigan Vaulting Teams (southeastern Michigan), Timberlane Vaulters (Lowell) and Victory Vaulters (Rockwood).

Special activities were scheduled throughout the Octoberfest weekend. Presentations included several special horse performances and video clips from the World Equestrian Games in Germany 2006 with narration by Emma Seely.who had been there! In addition, Emma gave private, semi-private and group lessons to many enthusiastic vaulters seeking to improve their skills. Emma instructed parents, coaches and vaulters on how to better operate their own vaulting teams. The weekend concluded on Sunday with Emma holding clinics for the teams and doing medal testing for a few vaulters preparing for higher-level vaulting.

The Octoberfest event turned out to be a very fun and motivational time for all the vaulters, coaches, judges, volunteers and spectators. The reality of this dream resulted in bringing the core of the Region X teams closer together. Our vaulting spirit is strengthened and we are looking forward to promoting this sport more united than ever.

This marvelous event was hosted by A Vaulting Connection (www.avaultingconnection.com), a member of the American Vaulting Association and coordinated by their coach Karin Schmidt, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Karin is an AVA board member. In addition to her vaulting expertise, she was formerly an accomplished jockey in North and South America as well as in Germany. At "A Vaulting Connection" she takes pride in teaching vaulting to any person, regardless of age or ability.