MyAmigoMaya
03-23-2007, 11:47 AM
Last night I got to go learn how to do medieval equestrian games. I'm in a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a medieval reenactment group. There's been more of a movement recently toward including mounted games at reenactments, so I went to an equestrian practice last night a couple of hours away from here. It was a total blast!
The other members who were there have been doing it for a while and were really friendly and helpful. It was a nice barn with an indoor, and I rented a horse from the barn to ride in the games. She was a really cute little sorrel mare named Promise. She'd never done medieval games before and the first time someone thwacked a "head" off a pole, she bolted across the arena--but she settled down quickly and we introduced her to the objects and things really easily. She was a great horse to ride, and I was happy that I didn't disgrace myself with her, since I haven't ridden in weeks.
I did Saracen heads, which is weaving through poles (jump standards) with foam "heads" on top. You carry a sword (wooden) and knock the heads off as you weave. It took me a few minutes to get used to neck reining (Promise wasn't so sure about that either, since she's a jumper and used to English--but she did Pony Club at some point in her life so she picked up on things quickly), but they showed me how to bridge the reins to make them shorter and make neck reining easier when she still needed some direct rein here and there. What really took some getting used to was weaving in and out of poles, at speed, using neck reining, while wielding a sword in my other hand and knocking "heads" accurately! We were able to do it at a trot pretty soon, which means that I can authorize for Intermediate level without a problem--if I try it at a canter and it goes well, I'd be authorized Advanced. Not that I'll be trying anything too advanced for a while though!
We also did a little bit of rings (not full on, just with one standard to try out for me), which is with the brass rings hanging off a standard, and you spear them with a lance. My favourite was javelin, which is flinging a javelin or spear at a target attached to hay bales. I actually did pretty well at that, which was surprising, since I normally have horrible aim. (:
Anyway, it was really neat--I'm going to go to more practices, and there's a local woman who's thinking of moving to our barn, and she'd like to organize practices there also. I'd like to try my hand at the games at a demonstration event locally in June, if there's a horse I can borrow (everyone's great about sharing horses amongst each other). It's just a whole lot of fun being on horseback and waving a sword!
Sarah
The other members who were there have been doing it for a while and were really friendly and helpful. It was a nice barn with an indoor, and I rented a horse from the barn to ride in the games. She was a really cute little sorrel mare named Promise. She'd never done medieval games before and the first time someone thwacked a "head" off a pole, she bolted across the arena--but she settled down quickly and we introduced her to the objects and things really easily. She was a great horse to ride, and I was happy that I didn't disgrace myself with her, since I haven't ridden in weeks.
I did Saracen heads, which is weaving through poles (jump standards) with foam "heads" on top. You carry a sword (wooden) and knock the heads off as you weave. It took me a few minutes to get used to neck reining (Promise wasn't so sure about that either, since she's a jumper and used to English--but she did Pony Club at some point in her life so she picked up on things quickly), but they showed me how to bridge the reins to make them shorter and make neck reining easier when she still needed some direct rein here and there. What really took some getting used to was weaving in and out of poles, at speed, using neck reining, while wielding a sword in my other hand and knocking "heads" accurately! We were able to do it at a trot pretty soon, which means that I can authorize for Intermediate level without a problem--if I try it at a canter and it goes well, I'd be authorized Advanced. Not that I'll be trying anything too advanced for a while though!
We also did a little bit of rings (not full on, just with one standard to try out for me), which is with the brass rings hanging off a standard, and you spear them with a lance. My favourite was javelin, which is flinging a javelin or spear at a target attached to hay bales. I actually did pretty well at that, which was surprising, since I normally have horrible aim. (:
Anyway, it was really neat--I'm going to go to more practices, and there's a local woman who's thinking of moving to our barn, and she'd like to organize practices there also. I'd like to try my hand at the games at a demonstration event locally in June, if there's a horse I can borrow (everyone's great about sharing horses amongst each other). It's just a whole lot of fun being on horseback and waving a sword!
Sarah