About
Vaulting & Our Club
WHAT IS VAULTING?
Equestrian Vaulting can best be described as the combination of gymnastics and dance performed harmoniously on horseback. The word vaulting originally came from the French word "voltage" which means to jump over the horse.
Vaulting originated in the roman era when soldiers used to perform vaulting type movements in full battle armor to avoid their opponents line of fire. After the horse disappeared from the battle field these movements were refined, and are now referred to as the compulsory moves performed in vaulting competitions.
Equestrian Vaulting has become a very popular sport in Europe and is rapidly growing in North America and the rest of the world. Vaulting is still fairly new to Alberta and Canada, but the sport has seen tremendous growth over the past few years resulting in several clubs in Alberta alone. But due to Covid and other factors there are now only 3-4 clubs currently still up and running.
The sport of vaulting teaches children to move in harmony with a horse and how to get a clearer feeling and bond to theses magnificent animals. It also teaches great balance, flexibility, strength and team work skills. Vaulting also informs children on the basics of working with and taking care of horses, such as brushing, tacking and basic handling, therefore making it a great activity for children that would like to get involved with horses, but have no previous experience.
ABOUT OUR CLUB
In 2014 our head coach Brooke Boyd competed at the Word Equestrian Games in Normandy France as a Pas De Deux, and an alternate on the Canadian team. After returning back home to Alberta her compassion for the sport grew, and she wanted to expand her knowledge and passion to coach others. She then convinced her mom, Diane Boyd, to become the club's lunger, and the Diamond Willow Club was formed, starting off with two horses and three vaulters in 2015.
As a Not-For-Profit organization, we strive to provide an affordable equestrian sport for everyone. We do multiple fundraisers throughout the season to keep our lesson fees, arena fees and competition fees affordable. We also work hard to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our vaulters, as well as supply good quality equipment for training and well-trained horses to provide a safe and fun environment to all our vaulters.
Since 2015 when the club first formed we have seen tremendous growth in our programs and memberships. Our club offers a variety of programs, ranging from beginner lessons all the way to international level. Anyone 4 years and up can join. We also offer clinics, camps and even birthday parties which you can see on our programs page.
The Diamond Willow Vaulting Club is a non-for-profit organization.
The club strives to maintain their main goal which is to provide a safe, family like environment in order to achieve high quality vaulting programs, safe horses and a fun environment catered to learning and bonding together from the introductory level up to International level.
Please check out our 'Programs' page to learn about the different varieties of programs we have to offer within our club.
OUR TEAM
Brooke Boyd
Head Coach
Brooke is the head coach of the Diamond Willow Vaulting Club. She has been riding horses her whole life and has had 14 years of coaching experience leading up until now, including all levels and aspects of vaulting . She has also coached and assisted coached at numerous other clubs within Alberta.
Her passion and love for the sport, as well as for kids, allows her to work both as a High Performance coach, as well as an Introductory level coach. Previous to her vaulting career Brooke trained as an artistic gymnast for 8 years at the Exelta gymnastics club in Red Deer. Training 4 hours a day , 4 times a week and competing at numerous competitions locally and internationally, but found it was not her passion.
She has since devoted her time to vaulting and competes both locally and internationally as a vaulter and has even competed at the World Equestrian Games in 2014 in the Pas De Deux class and as an alternate for the Canadian team, where her and her partner placed 8th in the world.
She continues to train, compete and coach her club but she has many goals set for herself in the vaulting community.
Brooke is also a Registered Massage Therapist at All About U Massage in Olds Alberta, and on top of that she also holds a diploma in Raynor Massage Therapy.
Diane Boyd
Assitant Coach & Head Lunger
Diane has been around horses all of her life and when her daughter, Brooke, started her own club, it was only natural that she be integrated into the role of the main lunger.
Throughout Diane's short few years of lunging for the club at practices and in a competition world she has received the top lunger award on two different occasions. She continues to work hard on her communication and lunging skills with each and every horse within the club, as each horse needs something different and she tries to adhere by that.
Diane also strives in creating a deep emotional and physical bond with every horse. She continues to lunge for vaulting in both a lesson setting and competitive setting, as well as rides and trains the horses in various different activities.
She has also taken her training to be a certified equestrian vaulting coach and when needed she steps in as an assistant coach, while continuing her lunging duties.
Her love for both horses and kids makes her an incredible asset to the Diamond Willow Vaulting Club and we could not do it without her.
