The biggest event for the Gold Star Pacesetters in 2018 was the Regional Competition in Castle Rock, Co in mid October.  The team of 4 vaulters traveled to Castle Rock for the 3 day event in which each vaulter participated in events at their gate. 

Adelee Dyrssen was the Pacesetters Trot vaulter and she also competed in the Developmental Canter classes.  Adelee competed in several classes in Trot, Developmental Canter, barrel, 2 phase team, Pas de Deux, barrel and horse, and costume freestyle.  Mindy Lowe competed in the walk division, costume freestyle, barrel, Pas de Deux barrel and horse,and in the Masters level. She took first overall in the walk classes and third in the Master classes.  Carolina Boetler competed in the walk division classes as well, costume freestyle, barrel and horse, and a Pas de Deux with Kyleigh Corbin.  Carolina took 2nd in the overall walk classes.  Kyleigh was our youngest vaulter to compete in this year's Regional Competition.  She also competed at the walk and did freestyle, compulsories, pas de Deux with Carolina in the barrels.  Kyleigh took overall 3rd place in the walk division.

The 2-Phase team took first in the division and remains the reigning champion of this division at Octoberfest!  We are so proud of these young ladies for how well they did at Regionals in 2018!  We are also proud of how they projected themselves as a team, working together, supporting each other, encouraging each other and showing the region what it truly means to be a team.  We look forward to watching these ladies grow and improve in 2019!

Our final event for the 2018 season was a Christmas Demo at Curragh Equestrian Center in Ben Brook, TX.  The team dressed for the occasion and had fun performing their freestyles and compulsories on Gus and Marshall in front of a crowd of other equestrians.  They put their freestyles to Christmas music and performed an amazing performance.  Adelee and Mindy awed the crowd with their Pas De Deux performance on Gus!  All in all , it was a very successful year!  We are pleased to have grown in numbers throughout the year and hope to continue that trend in the coming 2019 season!  Come back again and learn what we have coming up and what we have done recently.

  2018 continued in full swing for the Gold Star Pacesetters.  After competing in Texfest in June and performing in Athens, TX, the team turned their focus to their next event, The Burleson City annual 4th of July Parade.  The team gather patriotic decorations, worked to decorate a float and two horses, picked out patriotic costumes and headed to the line up area of the parade.  Mr. Pace pulled the float with vaulters doing compulsory and freestyle moves on the barrels.  Several other vaulters were able to do compulsory and freestyle moves on the horse, Gus and Killian.  Gus was led by lunger and parent Deb Dyrssen, and Killian was led by owner, Merrideth.  The Pacesetter vaulters showed the on looking crowd some of their special and intriguing moves atop the horses and waved enthusiastically to the crowd.

In mid July, one vaulter, Adelee Dyrssen, went to Iowafest Vaulting competition in Cedar Falls , IA.  She used this competition to perfect her freestyles at the trot before competing in Regional Competition later in October.  She did well, taking first overall in the trot division.  She enjoyed the competition and came back encouraging other vaulters to try it in 2019.

In late September the team did another demo in Fort Worth, at a city festival there.  They demonstrated their compulsories and freestyle moves on barrels and had many kids on the barrels trying the maneuvers too.  The team also performed on horse to music every hour on the hour.  We were able to take 2 horses this year to this festival, Gus, owned by Gold Star Pacesetters, and Marshall owned by Wings of Hope.  This was a great opportunity for the vaulters to fine tune their performances for Regional competition in Castle Rock, Co in just 2 short weeks.

During the 2018 season, the Gold Star Pacesetters were very busy.  They performed at many demonstrations, clinics, and competitions throughout the year. They were even invited to be on JOCO radio.  Mr. Frank Pace, coach and founder, Patti Pace, wife and founder of Wings of Hope Equine Therapy program in Burleson, Deb Dyrssen, parent, and Adelee Dyrssen, vaulter, spoke for a session about what equestrian vaulting is, when they meet, how it has benefited participants throughout the years.  We heard first hand from a Deb, a parent, of how vaulting has changed and benefited her daughter over the past year and a half. Adelee,the vaulter, also spoke of how she came to learn about the sport,found the Pacesetters, and how she has benefited from it. Mr. Pace spoke of how the team all came about and how it has grown into what it is today.

They started the year off with their annual demonstration at Burleson's own City on a Hill Festival.  At this event the Pacesetters would demonstrate compulsory and freestyle moves on the practice barrels.  They would get the public involved in the event by teaching them how to do these moves on the barrels as well.  Many children were able to try vaulting first hand and get a feel for what it takes.  On the hour,every hour, the team members would then demonstrate on Gus, their horse, the compulsory moves and freestyles that are set to music.  The public was able to see how the work on the barrel transferred over to a performance on a horse.  This was a fun filled day of teaching and practicing for upcoming events.

In June, the Gold Star Pacesetters attended their first competition of the year, Texfest.  They also hosted this competition in Claridon, TX.  Three vaulters from the Pacesetters participated in the competition.  Adelee competed in the trot division, and Alyssa and Carolina competed in the walk division.  Each member did the compulsories and a freestyle at gate of their level on the horse.  Each also competed in barrel freestyle competition.  Alyssa and Adelee had also created and performed a Pas de Deux (double freestyle) barrel performance.  This event was the first competition for one of the vaulters, but all the vaulters did well.

Later in the month of June, the team traveled to Athens, TX and performed a demo at the World Equestrian Drill Team Competition.  here the team performed their compulsories at each vaulters gate, with some doing it at the walk, and one vaulter doing them at the Canter.  then each member was able to perform a freestyle to a selections of music on the horse, GUS.  As a finale, the team surprised the audience by doing a very upbeat and fun synchronized barrel routine to the 50's hit "Rockin' Robin".  In this performance, 4 members of the team performed the same moves at the same time, each on their own barrel.  What a fun event.  Ready to go back next year and do it again!

Gold Star Pacesetters have set goals for the team in 2019. They worked hard in 2018 to build the team up and gain some competition experience.  Now with a little experience under their belts, the team is ready to work hard, improve their skills, and compete more often. American Vaulting Nationals will be in St. Louis, MO in August of 2019 and the team has made it a top goal to go to nationals. Although the team is young with most being under the age of 16, many members plan to work to make it to the Copper or Bronze level by Nationals. The team is also looking to grow their team this year by adding more vaulters.  The team currently consists of 5 vaulters who wish to be competitive and have three more younger vaulters who are working to learn the basics of vaulting. The goal is to have 12-15 competitive vaulters.

Before Nationals in August, the team plans to attend a clinic with a vaulting clinician, hopefully in their home arena in Burleson. Then going to a competition in New Mexico in May and Regionals in July, in Leveland, Tx. They will then finish their season off with a competition in Castle Rock, Co in October. 

Attending competitions is not all this team does throughout the year. Gold Star Pacesetters is seen annually a the City On a Hill festival in Burleson, Tx doing a demo for the public.  They also have annual demonstrations at the  World Equestrian Drill Team Competition in Athens, Tx in June, as well as another city festival in Forth Worth, TX, and Christmas demonstrations at Curragh Equestrian Center and Wings of Hope Equine therapy Center in Burleson.  They often put on clinics for local Pony clubs and other newer vaulting groups in the region.  One of the goals of the Gold Star Pacesetters is to promote the sport of Equestrian Vaulting.

The goals are many for this small team and there will be costs involved.  The team is planning to have fund raisers to help them reach these goals and be able to attend these competitions.  Be watching our website, Facebook, and Instagram for upcoming events, demos, and competitions.