Vaulters do well at U.S. meet

Meadow Creek Vaulting Club members Jeanine van der Sluijs and Dallyn Marie Shields did well at a recent competition in the United States.

Held in Tryon,  N.C., the 2018 World Equestrian Games ran from Sept. 11 to Sept. 23.

Van der Sluijs, from Olds, and Shields, from Didsbury, placed 10^th overall during the international competition.

Vaulting is a combination of gymnastics and riding with competitors judged during performances. The Meadow Creek club is based southeast of Olds.

“It went really well and we had a good week of competition,” said van der Sluijs. “We end up finishing 10^th and we are very happy about that. It was probably the best competition of the season for us, so it was a really good way to finish up the season.

“We have a really good feeling about our performance. We had a great time.”

Shields and van der Sluijs took part in the duals competition, both riding their horse Phoenix at the same time.

“We had two rounds of competition, with one ride in each round. We do a freestyle routine. The first round is freestyle and according to that you have to qualify into the second round, which is also called the final. If you make it into the top 12 you can compete in the final round,” she said.

Phoenix is a Belgian-thoroughbred cross.

“That’s the horse we competed on all year long,” she said.

The drive to North Carolina included a stopover in Michigan for training.

“So we were gone for six weeks altogether,” she said.

The weather in North Carolina was very unsettled at the time due to Hurricane Florence, she said.

“It was incredibly hot when we were competing,” she said. “It was about 32 for most of the days and the humidity was just crazy, so it felt really hot all of the time. And we also had a couple days of rain, which was due to the hurricane.

“I don’t think the heat affected us that much, mostly because we had a chance to acclimatize in Michigan, which was hot as well. The definitely helped us.”

The 2019 vaulting season will start in April, she explained.

“Usually start off with a local competition,” she said.