With only four years of vaulting experience under her belt, 18-year-old Brooke Boyd of Olds placed the highest among Canadian pairs in the Pas-de-Deux competition at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
The largest equestrian competition in the world was held from Aug. 23 to Sept. 7 in Normandy, France.
“At worlds, she was just incredible. There wasn't even a moment where those nerves came out. She was just ready to compete, ready to show, ready to really perform and she did a fantastic job,” said Todd Griffith, her competition partner, adding that Boyd did not have prior pairs experience.
“Brought out the music, brought out the style, brought out the flair of the performance and really it was maturity beyond her years. I was really proud of her for doing that.”
He added that the two only started working together in December and were competing against pairs who've been together for three years or longer.
At the games, Boyd and Griffith finished eighth in pairs competition with a score of 7.674, a new high score for Canada, he said.
Canada finished 13th with two medals, a silver and a bronze.
Nobody expected the Canadian team to fare as well as it did, Griffith said.
Vaulting is an equestrian event that has been described as gymnastics and dance performed on a cantering horse.
This was Griffith's third trip to the World Equestrian Games, which are held every four years and Boyd said his experience on this stage helped her compete as a young rider.
“It was really amazing just to be able to compete with him because he's had the experiences of going to WEG before. That was my first huge competition like that and he knew how to relax you before you went in and he was just really great to work with,” Boyd said.
“Being able to work with him has just made me grow as a vaulter and it's been an amazing experience.”
Griffith, from Cardston, was a coach for the Canadian team and described his routine with Boyd as being like a swing dance to big band music — only on horseback.
“It's the lindy hop or the east coast swing, where there's a lot of flipping and lifting and spinning and splits and all of that kind of stuff,” he said.
Boyd, an Olds High School graduate, said she plans to take a year's break from school to continue vaulting, hoping to qualify for the 2018 World Equestrian Games, to be held in Bromont, Que.
The following are members of the Canadian team from Olds and area: Brooke Boyd, Jeanine van der Sluijs, Angelique van der Sluijs, Shianne Hofer, Haigen Pavan, and Dallyn Shields from Didsbury.
