Horse/rider sport thrills audience at Exhibition light show
The annual Moose Jaw Exhibition Co. Light Show offered guests a glimpse into a novel equestrian sport — vaulting.
Not to be confused with trick riding, vaulting on horseback involves performing gymnastic routines on a moving horse — at either a walk or canter speed. Over The Top vaulters from the Moose Jaw Pony Club performed on a horse after students from Lindale School showed the routines on a gymnastics barrel first. Once routines on the barrel are mastered, they can work on horses.
Working with Kate Hansen and Maya Viszko was Dolly, a 15-yearold Belgian Appaloosa cross. The docile horse was bought by Kim Reynolds at auction five years ago and became a vaulting horse. Hansen, age 11, has been riding for three years. Viszko, in Grade Eight, has been riding since she was old enough to sit on a horse. Both vaulters performed as a duo on Dolly, then individually, thrilling the 200 people at the two afternoon shows on Dec. 9.
The light show was a tribute to Canada’s 150th birthday. The flashing lights, designed by Don Hill, featured a replica of each province or territory’s geography in lights and a piece of that province’s fame: a Roughrider logo for Saskatchewan, wild rose for Alberta, trillium for Ontario, polar bear for the Northwest Territories and a lighthouse for the Maritimes. Moose Jaw Dog Club members put their dogs through obedience routines in agility trials. Singers from Victory Church sang Christmas carols. Jaidyn and Ethan Brentnell of Central Collegiate’s Sound of Music cast sang Oh Canada.