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I couldn’t train/compete without…

1. The closest thing I have to feeling in my legs – video! I film as much of my training as
possible because only when I watch it back do I realise what I was actually doing.

2. The best tool for this: a super-adaptable tripod, which holds my phone but could hold a smallish camera if desired! I like my Joby GorillaPod one, but cheaper (if lower quality) ones can be found at places like Tiger. You can prop them up anywhere or wrap them around anything – really handy and one of my most important pieces of training kit.

  1. What’s almost as good as a real horse? A fake horse! My barrel horses take next to no maintenance or care and live out happily all year round. Barrels are essential for vaulters to practice moves and learn or discover new ones.
  2. The right vaulting shoes. There are two styles I like, and fortunately both are cheap! I always have my shoes a bit tight – I can’t feel any discomfort, after all, and at least that way I know they’ll stay on and not get caught on anything.

 

5. Vet wrap. I’ve yet to find an ankle brace which is strong enough to keep my ankle from dislocating, but slim enough to fit in a vaulting shoe. Vet wrap, on the other hand, does a pretty good job – not perfect if I really shove my ankle over, but good enough to prevent the smaller shifts! I use the Hy Health versions because they unpeel easily, which means I can make it last longer.

 

6. Esomeprazole and salt. Esomeprazole is just a medication which helps to prevent reflux. This is important because EDS digestive systems are, like our joints, far too floppy. I still reflux every time I go upside down, but it used to be just every time I bent my head forwards, so it’s not too bad! Salt is another EDS thing – plenty of it is actually good for my cardiovascular system, which is also ‘floppy’. We’re a weird breed.

7. Audacity: a free-to-download programme which allows you to edit music. I first started using it when I was at university and it’s one of the only things from my degree that I still use regularly! If I like a song but it doesn’t quite fit the vaulting timing requirements then I just play around with it on Audacity until it does.

8. Related to this: Spotify. It’s a good place to find new songs, and also to find the precise version that you might want to use for a freestyle – and yes, it does matter which of the hundreds of covers you pick!

9. Fabric paint. I quite like to have my own designs on vaulting shoes (and sometimes catsuits too), and it’s really easy to do – I buy Dylon fabric paint (£3 – £4 a tube) and it goes nicely onto manmade and natural fabrics.

 

 

 

 

10. For the cold days, legwarmers over my knees are amazing because they help to stop my knees from buckling underneath me. I look ridiculous, of course, but that’s nothing new!

These are things which, as far as I know, don’t yet exist – but they’d really help!

  1. Something to hold my hearing aids onto my ears tightly so they don’t fall out. If it could also keep sand and general horse grime out but still allow noise in then that would be brilliant!
  2. A super lightweight, up-to-safety-standards, and affordable jockey skull hat. Peak-less helmets are essential for RDA competitions but vaulting is a hot activity!
  3. The perfect horse!

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