My daughter (11, soon 12), has been fooling around with vaulting for years now, ever since she had a taste of it at a horse camp. She's a very good rider now, and has excellent balance (I can only dream of riding so easily) so I have been letting her practice a little on her horse, a schoolmaster-type Arab gelding who she's built a really good relationship with and who pretty much babysits her when she's trying all these things on his back. Because the cantle of the saddle gets in the way, she's started riding him bareback a lot. And yes, she is being taught by a certified coach who encourages her to canter bareback and is working on her dropping her stirrups and finding them again when she does use a saddle. Her coach doesn't do vaulting (she's a jumper coach), but has no problem with it, and in fact, has told my daughter to show some of her vaulting moves to the other riders. She likes to build in balance exercises at the beginning and end of lessons. Now, just so we're clear, she's only on her knees (not standing), only doing things like having an arm horizontal and a leg stuck backward, sitting sideways or facing the back... I'm not describing it well, but she's not doing anything very scary. A helmet is also worn at all times and Harley (her Arab) keeps a slow, steady pace when she's doing it, like he knows she needs a little help.
Anyway, having said all that, her birthday is coming up and I thought she might enjoy a proper vaulting surcingle. I see they are sold separate from the pad. So do I need to get a special vaulting pad AND a vaulting surcingle? Or is it better to get them together? Does the pad just stay in place from the surcingle holding it down or does it have it's own girth? Total newbie here, sorry. No one around here does vaulting except one girl and I won't send my daughter to her because she's not safety conscious. Yes, I know vaulting is dangerous, but she won't ever compete in it, it' just for fun when she's bored of doing the same thing with her horse.
Anyway, having said all that, her birthday is coming up and I thought she might enjoy a proper vaulting surcingle. I see they are sold separate from the pad. So do I need to get a special vaulting pad AND a vaulting surcingle? Or is it better to get them together? Does the pad just stay in place from the surcingle holding it down or does it have it's own girth? Total newbie here, sorry. No one around here does vaulting except one girl and I won't send my daughter to her because she's not safety conscious. Yes, I know vaulting is dangerous, but she won't ever compete in it, it' just for fun when she's bored of doing the same thing with her horse.