Sahara Weil: Bellingen equestrian vaulter to compete at world championships in Austria
Combining horse riding and gymnastics sounded like a fun thing for a 10-year-old to try. Now, seven years later, this dedicated teen is poised to compete on the world stage. See her in action.
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Combining horse riding and gymnastics sounded like a fun thing for a 10-year-old to try - now, seven years later, this dedicated teen is poised to compete on the world stage.
Sahara Weil from Bellingen is the only Australian to be selected to compete at the junior Equine Vaulting World Championships in Austria from July 30 to August 3.
She qualified for the worlds in April last year during a competition in Hungary.
“I wasn’t expected to qualify as it was a higher class and I had only been training the harder class for a few weeks.
“It was the best feeling ever, knowing that I was going to the biggest competition in the world to represent my country.
“I’ve been dreaming about that for a really long time.”
Her biggest supporter and number one fan - her mother Susan Weil has flown over to join her.
It was actually Susan who first stumbled across an advertisement for the sport.
“Neither of us really knew what it was, but it sounded fun so we gave it a go.
“I’d always loved horses and gymnastics.”
The 17-year-old has now finished school via distance education which enabled her to dedicate more time to training.
Not many people in Australia know about equestrian vaulting, but it’s big in Europe.
It is a combination of gymnastics and dance on a moving horse with vaulters requiring incredible strength, agility and balance.
They must make what is incredibly difficult, look effortless. This is called ‘harmony with the horse’ and is the foundation of the sport and the scoring.
When she’s back at home on her property at Bellingen she uses a static barrel - her “fake horse” - to train for hours then it’s off to the gym for more strength and conditioning work.
This year she is living and training in the small town of Herxheim, Germany to prepare for the world championships with her coach Anthony Bross a former world champion.
Sahara says there’s nothing like the feeling of combining strength, expression, discipline and the connection with the horse.
“It challenges me physically and mentally every day but more than anything, it just makes me happy.”
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