Now booking for 2010!

2009 was a great year for Destrier - we've had a lot of fun and put on some spectacular shows! We're now taking events bookings for 2010, so get in touch now before you miss out!

Destrier wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - hope to see you in it!

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Training a horse and skill at arms principles

"The horses used by Destrier for their performances come from several different yards across the UK, but all have to be trained to a high standard.

Mounted skill at arms has two main and rather obvious, participants who have to work in harmony to achieve the best results; the rider and the horse. Both need to be trained to be safe and secure, to work with sharp weapons at speed, with ground crew safety in mind and strange looking targets scattered on the floor, and quite often a noisy crowd of spectators.

Firstly, to actually strike a target the rider needs to get close enough for sword, or the right distance away for javelin to be most effective. No matter how good the rider, if the horse simply swerves away from the target, it makes a good strike either impossible or particularly difficult.

A horses training comes in several stages. Firstly the horse is introduced to the targets as part of its normal schooling routine. The boar or deer target is simply put into the arena with the horse as if nothing unusual is going on and the horse is encouraged to simply ignore it and get on with the normal training for fitness and suppleness. Often horses will be signally unimpressed and unafraid and so a faster speed and a more direct and closer approach can be tried. Many horses, especially those who are bolder seem to be naturally unafraid. Others will snort and make a big fuss about the target and will need to be coaxed to smell it and become acquainted. Usually, with patience almost any horse will grow accustomed to any new object and eventually ignore it. Quite often the orientation of the target will have an effect on the horse, in that, if the boar is pointed directly at the horse it seems to have a bigger fear factor than if it is pointing away. Whilst this is anecdotal, it does make some kind of sense since horse are prey animals and anything facing them might be interpreted as a direct threat to their health.

Once the horse is fully used to the target types, and will run happily past the target without deviation it is time to train the rider about his or her line to the target.

Ideally the rider will imagine in their mind the perfect line, and ride for an imaginary marker in the distance neatly past the target at the correct distance for their weapon, rather than at and over the target. As the weapon strike draws closer the rider must prepare to throw or cut and this can have an effect on the rider’s balance, and also the horse’s direction. Quite often novice riders will ride towards the target and then swerve away at the target as their weight shifts in the saddle and the horse senses a direction change, riding in a swerve that is obvious to the ground crew but difficult to spot from the top of an excited horse going at a gallop, and quite annoying for the rider. This can be corrected for by practising simply riding past the target at speed and making sure the line is straight as if the target didn’t exist. Only when the rider can do this is the weapon strike re-introduced and usually the problem is solved.

Sometimes, especially with more experienced horses and novice or nervous riders the horse will take advantage and anticipate the target by deliberately swerving aside or running on the wrong side of the target. The only way to correct this is to go back to basics and make the horse go past the target at a slower speed, possibly even at a walk until it re learns to go in a straight line.

As with all equestrian training, skill at arms is about patience and repetition rather than anger or aggression. The more calm a horse and rider are the better the pair’s line and speed."

Welcome to Destrier.org.uk!

We're very proud to be re-launching our website. While still under construction we hope to provide you with more pictures, videos and information on Destrier as well as how to book us for 2010. Looking forward to seeing you :)