Joust Training

Last evening friend Bev brought her "pony" (at 17hh) Reyna over to play with Woody and Taxi, and to help train all of us to be good Jousters too. We did passes at each other down the lyst, and Bev bonked a lance against my shield as Woody and I walked past her. Woody is so calm with all of this stuff that it's just amazing. (Hmmm... is he setting me up for something later down the road??? Hmmm...) We also tried out our quintain charges with me wearing my close helmet for a change. It DOES change things! Not only can't you SEE anything, but you can't HEAR anything either... at least I can't! But lucky for me Woody still could both see and hear, and when I started him down the course, we went straight as an arrow, and like a rocket. He just tucks his head down and GOES! Such a great horse! Needless to say, I'm sore from smacking that shock quintain too many times last night, but I sure to love doing it!

Poor Taxi though! He was "helping" by trotting along with us when we did passes and charges at the quintain, but he also was doing his best to stay between Reyna and Woody... I suspect that he has some strong reservations about "girls" in his pasture, especially near his buddy! Oh well, next time we'll get Neb to ride Taxi so he doesn't feel too left out!

Tilbury Camp

We had a great weekend of riding and eating too much wonderful food at our Tilbury Encampment. Anne Marie, Guillaume and Anissa joined us with enough food for an expeditionary army to Flanders, we set up camp in the grass overlooking our "tiltyard" and had at it. Taxi and Woody had a grand time playing with quintains, cabbage "heads" we sliced with swords and cabbage "pigs" that we pierced with lances. And we ate a LOT. The chickens were happy with their scraps, and the cats thought that tenting in the back yard was a great idea. Here you can see me on Woody hitting the shock quintain, while Guillaume and Taxi are about to smack the revolving quintain a good one! We'll have to do this again in a couple of months!

Tilting

Tilt

No, I'm not tilting at windmills. Yet. However, since I'm talking the talk, I might as well get to practicing walking the walk here, insofar as jousting goes. So here I am on Woody smacking the Quintain (Thanks for the loan, Devon!) with the heavy practice lance. Woody is really dialing in now on what I want, so I aim him at the quintain, give him a nudge and off we go! He's still working on which SIDE of the quintain we need to always go on, but we're getting there... As you can see, he has no fear of it at all, and is happy to run directly under the shield for me. We hit that thing HARD sometimes! I think I'm going to have to put weights on it... What's funny is that Taxi want's to play too, so he gallops along with us, running on the other side of the quintain as we hit it. He just ducks to make sure that shield doesn't hit his head. Such a neat old horse!

Although I'm talking jousting here, I look upon it as great training for Cavalry, just like the old-timers did, rather than being an end unto itself. It's fun, it's great training for the horses and riders, but hardly the be-all and end-all. Everyone knows that the be-all and end all is Cavalry!

Jousting Friends

Here is a nice shot that Neb took of our friend Devon as she was cantering down the tilt towards an opponent today at the Gig Harbour Renaissance Fantasy Faire. Emphasis on Fantasy of course. But Devon was great! She's jousting for the AJA at the moment (this is not an endorsment by me of the AJA, simply a mention of them, and their site) , because she's a masochist, and she loves to joust! Needless to say, when this shot was taken she wasn't actually going to be hit by her opponent, it was a "game" in which the other rider held the shield and wore a helmet. Since Devon wasn't going up against a lance, no need for the shield or helmet.

We also met folks from the "Acadamia della Spada" which we hope will develop into other interesting venues. All in all an enjoyable day spent at yet another Renaissance Faire.