2024 Senior Vaulting World Championship- Bern, Switzerland

We are excited to announce that Allegra Hart and Raelyn Snyder have been selected to represent the USA at the 2024 Vaulting World Championship in Bern, Switzerland!

About Raelyn:

Hello, my name is Raelyn Snyder and I am an 18 year old equestrian vaulter from Elysburg, PA. Vaulting and horses have always been a very important part of my life. I’ve been vaulting since the age of 4 and have been competing since the age of 5. Competing at the World Championships has always been my biggest dream, and I am so excited to be at this point in my vaulting career!

My Pas de Deux journey began when I was only 7 years old and has evolved over the years to finally being at the highest level! Being a vaulter from the east coast, I have faced many disadvantages in my career over the years, such as less opportunities to learn from top vaulters in the world, needing to travel longer distances to national and international competitions, and having a lack of horse time in the past. Luckily, I have been able to overcome most of these challenges, and I am now a part of the first East Coast Pas de Deux in history to represent the USA at the World Championship!

About Allegra:

Hi, my name is Allegra Hart and I am a 20 year old vaulter from Mebane, NC. I started equestrian vaulting in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the sport. My first season vaulting, I placed 3rd out of 50 individuals at the National Championships and won 1st the following year. I’ve climbed the ladder of divisions and have consistently placed in the top three with many Grand, Reserve and USEF Highpoint awards presented. I am now competing at the 2* Young Vaulters/Gold level individually and work as a team with my partner, Raelyn in the 3* Pas de Deux division. After knowing Raelyn for many years in the vaulting community, it’s been very exciting to work together and represent the USA at the world level! I’ve rounded my skills by being a working student for the multi-time World Champion, Christoph Lensing. Competing at the World Championship has always been a lifelong goal of mine and I am so excited to be at this point in my career!

About Lightning:

We are honored to have Lightning as a part of our team. Lightning is a 9 year old Percheron/Quarter Horse cross. He was bought as a project horse by Raelyn Snyder in June 2020 when she was just 14 years old! Before being purchased by Raelyn, he was an Amish plow horse with 2-3 weeks of time under saddle.

Just days after Raelyn had payed Lightning off in October 2020, he suffered from an impacted and displaced colon and had to undergo an emergency colic surgery at the New Bolton Animal Hospital to have any chance of survival. He miraculously pulled through and has since proven to be the best teammate we could ask for! Once Lightning was finally healed from his colic surgery, he was restarted again in January 2021 with the help of Heather Merrell. His first vaulting competition was in April 2021 in Maryland and by the 2022 season, he was a seasoned pro!

In 2023, Lightning carried many vaulters in the individual and pas de deux divisions to receive qualifying scores and champion titles. He also earned the 2023 2*YV/Gold Horse High Point Award and is a part of the Horse Pathways Program. This year will be Lightning’s biggest season yet. He has already carried our pas de deux in four EVUSA/USEF competitions and one CVI 2* in Tryon, NC. This July, he will be traveling across the world to Bern, Switzerland to compete with us in the World Championship!

After being selected for the 2024 FEI Vaulting World Championship, we have realized that we financially cannot do this on our own. With big goals come huge expenses. This trip is a huge financial undertaking for us and it won’t be possible without the help from supportive people like you!

Some of the largest expenses include:

- Flights

- Coach flights

- Horse transportation

- Horse stall/ tack room

- Lungeur expenses

Any donation towards our journey would be greatly appreciated! We have worked our entire lives to get to this point in our vaulting careers and it is a dream come true to represent the USA on the world stage!