Two sisters who run an equestrian vaulting (gymnastics on horseback) club near Olds have been nominated for an FEI international award. It will be presented Nov. 21 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
FEI stands for FÈdÈration Equestre Internationale (the international international equestrian federation).
Jeanine van der Sluijs, 30, and her sister Angelique, 28, run the Meadow Creek Vaulting Club, located about 15 minutes southeast of Olds.
The two sisters got the news they'd been nominated a couple of weeks ago. The public had until Oct. 1 to cast votes for nominees to win the award. Those votes are worth 50 per cent of the judges' decision.
The van der Sluijs sisters began equestrian vaulting in the Netherlands when they were young children.
"Then, when we moved here in 2001, that's when we started our own club, along with our parents, and have been growing the club ever since," Jeanine says.
They've been competing in the sport nationally and internationally.
"I've competed individually at the past four world championships and I've placed in the top 25 in all of those events," Jeanine says.
"Together we competed as a pas de deux (as a pair) and we competed at the 2014 Equestrian Games in Normandy, France and we placed 10th."
In addition, for the past 16 years, Jeanine and Angelique have been teaching equestrian vaulting to children in the area. Currently the club has about 30 members, a figure that's on par with previous years.
They've had some great successes with those kids.
Jeanine notes their highest-level squad became the Canadian national champion about four weeks ago.
Also, Dallyn Shields, a member of the club, represented Canada at the Junior World Championships during the first week in August.
"We're just very passionate about it. We really enjoy working together with the horses. We really enjoy building that connection and we're very passionate about sharing what we are very passionate about," Jeanine says.
"We're just very honoured to be nominated and short-listed for this award," she adds. "Just that on its own is very exciting and says a lot about the support that we get from everyone around us, so we're very excited about that."
"We really enjoy working together with the horses. We really enjoy building that connection and we're very passionate about sharing what we are very passionate about."JEANINE VAN DER SLUIJS
