About Stefanie Maass

I have been riding/competing horses in some sort of discipline for over 40 years, from western pleasure to cross country jumping. I did not discover vaulting until my 40s which I began doing with my then 7-year-old daughter to help rebuild our confidence after and tragic horse accident. I have never been gymnastically inclined, and neither is my daughter (at least she can do a cartwheel).   I love doing different things with horses and I thought “why not” it was scary and I felt vulnerable doing something I had no experience in especially at my age. I found that it could be paced to the person and that I didn’t have to back flip off the back of a horse my first night…. or ever.  I did have to push my boundaries and that was beyond helpful in helping myself and my daughter regain our confidence, not to mention using muscles I did not know I had.