An Equestrian's Response to the Cheerleaders

Heyaaa! so, all you cheerleaders and gymnists out there. I don't want to put you down but I do want to show you something that many people do not know about.

Vaulting.

Do you know what it is? Probably not. Basically, it's a mixture of gymnastics and cheering on a canntering - YES CANTERING ( third fastest gait of a horse. there are four, and the fastest is the gallop ) horse. HORSE. as in, unpredicatble animal. I've been riding for a few years now, and I have been trained as a hunter/jumper, but in my eyes, vaulting is the most dangerous out of all the horse sports.

When you gymnasts do headstand or whatnot, you're on solid ground. Now imagine doing a headstand on a very LARGE rocking horse. And if the horse just trips a bit, which is natural, you are thrown completly off balance.

Also, in the team events of this sport there are more intricate moves. For expample, like in cheerleading, each team has a flier. These fliers somethings go over 15 feet in the air on some moves, all while on a MOVING UNPREDICATBLE ANIMAL. Fliers in cheerleading can rely on their trusted friends, not on a horse.

here's a video ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PutiOP_4aNY&feature=related

thanks for reading .

Comments

I do horse back riding and I am a gymnast. Now I must say that they are both equal. Did you know gymnasts vault to? I don't think cheerleading should be first! It should be horse back riding then gymnastics! Horses rule! - visitor (6/23/2012)

Horse back riding is a LOT HARDER. I never said that it wasnt
all I am saying is that gymnastics is probably second. Cheer should be like 3 or 4

(NO HATE FROM CHEERLEADERS HERE PLEASE) - visitor (11/24/2012)

I hope you realize how stupid this is.
I'd rather hurt my ankle in gymnastics than break every bone in my body in bull riding. - Therater2 (12/7/2012)

It's dangerous, not stupid. And it's not bull riding, it's riding horses. Vaulting is amazing to watch, and if you don't see that, you're stupid. - visitor (12/23/2012)

What he's saying is, by comparison, what would you rather have, a broken ankle, or a crushed spine cause a bull mauled you. - visitor (2/17/2013)

I never said that vaulting wasn't dangerous, or was not amazing to watch. Yet Bull Riding is much more dangerous than either Gymastics OR Horse Riding. - Therater2 (6/6/2014)

I love riding and the cheerleaders who say cheerleading is more dangerous are dumb. Did you hear of a 2nd grader who died while riding? No probably not, well she was riding her horse on a trail that she usually rides on with her brother and father but she did this alone and something happened. (more likely the horse spooked. ) either way, she fell wrong and died. This was directed at the cheerleaders not the person who wrote this blog :) - visitor (1/15/2013)

I lot of people have died or became full-body paralyzed while doing cheerleading, so please do research the topic before making false statements.

Http://www.telegraph.Co.Uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3135928/Cheerleaders-are-risking-serious-injury-and-death-to-support-their-teams.Html

Http://cheerleading.Lovetoknow.Com/Cheerleading_Statistics

Http://www.nytimes.Com/2007/03/31/sports/31cheerleader.Html?Pagewanted=all&_r=0

Http://www.cbsnews.Com/8301-18563_162-613227.Html - visitor (2/22/2013)

Wow, that's pretty cool. :) I can see how this is really dangerous. - CheerleaderGymnast (5/9/2013)

Yah...but how many people actually do vaultin in your sport? Cheerleading is so dangourous and honestly if your allstar you don't even open your mouth. Plus do you do stunts on the horse? Toe touchs? Prymids? Fulls? Didn't think so... - visitor (9/14/2013)

Did you watch the video? Or even look up horse vaulting before you commented? - visitor (4/16/2014)

If you're the equestrian equivalent of an "all-star" It's a little different.
I think jumping at 60 miles an hour over a jump that is taller than you, all while communicating with a 1000lb animal that could potentially KILL you at any given time qualifies as a stunt.
Is performing an intricate dance all while communicating a dozen signals per second with an animal that doesn't speak your language not a stunt?
And as for vaulting, look up a few videos. Could you do what they do even on the ground? Toe touches, seriously? Try hanging off a moving horse, holding on with only one hand while you pull a team mate on with the other, all with a smile on your face. Then preach about your toe touches and pyramids, you condescending yob - visitor (6/20/2014)

Um think of gymnastics love, just as hard as cheerleading. Now think of vaulting, which is gymnastics on a moving, living animal that has a mind of it's own and can't be communicated with thorugh words. Now think of a team of four gymnasts, watching out for each other and doing stunts on a moving horse all at the same time.
That's vaulting for you. - visitor (6/22/2014)

Not hating at all this is very true! But when people think of cheer they think of school cheer! I do competitive cheer and it is hard and dangerous! But this sounds very dangerous too! - visitor (10/21/2013)

It's odd how some of the people on this list really care so much about their sport being dangerous... really odd indeed! - visitor (12/18/2013)

Same all the cheer leaders think it's the best and the bomb and just show off and act like other people CAN'T do better than them they just need to shut their mouth and be put on a horse if they see what I do at 12 years old they would be surprised and impressed and have more respect not that I am hating or any thing but yea at my school its like this all the time - visitor (1/21/2014)

Actually people do toe touches, vaults, and different types of tricks/stunts on horses. Look it up! - visitor (2/3/2014)

I don't want to be rude and come across rude but horses in general can be crazy and when a rider is on the horse and the horse is actin crazy that can be a bad situation. I'm pretty sure the ground doesn't move when you're doing flips on it, does it? Not people just think you can kick the horse and it will go straight into a canter and jump a 3ft jump. No. You can't just tell the horse to go. You also have to look for correct distances, leads, diagonals, etc. and look pretty at the same time. I could go on forever but I will stop there. So what do you thinks the hardest sport gymnastics or horse riding? Horse riding it is. - visitor (5/9/2014)

Actually believe it or not cheer leaders but vaulters do do toe touches and all on horse back. I've seen a girl on Instagram do a back flip ON TO a horse cantering backwards and 3 girls do a pyramid on it too - visitor (11/12/2014)