SAHARA IS GOING TO THE JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hi,

My name is Sahara and I’ve grown up in “Bello”, (Bellingen” on the mid north coast of NSW) , where I live with my mum and sister on our little farm. 

I'm 16 years old and I really love Equestrian Vaulting, which I’ve only done for a little over 3 years. It’s a combination of gymnastics and dance on a cantering horse, that’s lunged in a circle on a 20 metre lunge line.

Not many people in Australia have heard about this sport, but it’s huge in Europe. 

Since my training and competition horse died last year, I have no horse to train on, so I now fly to Adelaide every few months to live and train there for two weeks. Sometimes it’s hard moving around so much, and I miss my home and my family, especially on hard training days. But I really love this sport and it’s given me so many incredible experiences and I’ve met so many wonderful people, coaches and vaulters from all around the world.

This year I travelled on my own to Italy to live and train for 3 months in the hope of qualifying for the Junior World Championships next year in Austria. 

I did better than I thought I would, and came second in my first international FEI competition in Italy in April , 2025, competing against 38 vaulters from around the world. 

Three weeks later in May, I competed in Budapest, Hungary and got a qualifying score for the Junior World Championships next year in Austria. A dream I’ve had since I started vaulting. Im now waiting for the final selection for the Australian team.

My mum has been working really hard to help fundraise for me to help pay for everything, but the Worlds is really expensive. It’s also really hard finding sponsorship for individual girls in a sport no one knows about. 

I’m hoping to raise enough money to help pay for my training here in Australia as well as my trips overseas. I’m training in the USA this November for three months and then again next year when I go back to Europe in May to train on my competition horses and compete in some overseas competitions in my preparation for the Worlds next July. 

If you have never seen this sport before, then you’re welcome to go to my Instagram page @saharaweilvaults.  

Any amount you can offer would be awesome ! ❤️

Thank you