Dress Rehearsal

Hi everyone,

Just to say thanks to everyone who came to the dress rehearsal last weekend, I cannot remember a more enjoyable and positive get together. The sun shone too!

Saturday consisted of a brush up of our skill at arms and hunting games show with a bit of rethinking on the way the individual games were run so that when we tried again on the Sunday morning it all flowed a lot better with opposing teams running at different games one immediately after the other to keep it all flowing. When it came to the drag boar some of the horses were a little reluctant to attack it - a new thing for them really. However 'Coal' on of the new Geldings, only broken last year, proved fearless in the face of the furry, stinky one, trampling upon it with great enthusiasm. In fact Coal showed great promise throughout the whole day never looking too fazed with John aboard wearing half armour.

The Saturday afternoon was given over to some of our newer members, Nathan, Tom, Alex and Kasumi; a chance for them to mount up and gain some valuable experience in the saddle under Nicky's excellent tuition. In addition time was spent teaching the basics with sword and javelin so that a little skill at arms could be safely practiced. All four did very well showing promise in the saddle as well as enthusiasm in practicing with their weapons - keep it up Guys!

later in the afternoon of Saturday a number of us were filmed walking and trotting through the woods, spears in hands, as if on a medieval hunt. The light was not perfect but at one point the sun came through the trees upon which Andy hurried us into position for a few valuable takes. I believe some of this footage will be going on the website and - not having seen it yet - will look atmospheric.

The Sunday afternoon joust started well however one or two of the horses became a little lively toward the end so at the end we spent some time on basic schooling runs, without lances, just to reestablish the old routine. There were some great breaks though, 16 balsas being mashed in total. The horses seem to be very happy running along the solid tilt in fact it appears to encourage them to run in tight against it - so much so - that on my pass against Sean George it almost looked like we were heading straight for one another. The resulting break was big, the ferule strike ripping the lance from my grasp. Good stuff all round though guys in what is quite a tight arena with a very short tilt rail.

Now for the thank you's - to Andy for bringing his video camera and taking the shots all day on Saturday his enthusiasm was most welcome although sitting on the tilt rail to film passes might be a bit tricky Andy!. A big thanks also to Graham's Dad, Michael, who upon turning up in his beautiful 1964 e-type Jaguar, spent the day taking a mass of photos of the days proceedings (a few of these will follow on another e-mail). Some of this footage will go towards enlivening our website. Also thanks to our new and not so new members who worked hard on the ground to support us. Last, but by no means least, a huge thank you to 'Tournament Stud' for hosting Destrier, to Nicky, John and Dan who selflessly gave up their time to support us. I think they had a great time too.

Looking forward to Dorset when we can do it all again!

God bless

Will

A weekend at Tournament Stud

The weekend of the 5th/6th June saw several of us getting together at Tournament Stud, primarily to sort out and refurbish the group kit - but there was also plenty of time for riding and socialising.

The weather on Saturday was glorious, and it wasn't long before those macho torsoes were on show (rather unfairly, Andreas had been bronzing himself on his honeymoon in Egypt, which did rather highlight the pasty whiteness of the rest of us!)! The tilt rail now has new supports, it's covers have been washed, and we have totally new counter tilts. The lance racks are no longer falling apart and the rings have white tabs on them (courtesy of the Past Tents folk who were still at work) so they are more obvious - primarily so the audience can see when we've succeeded in taking a ring, but it might help us a little too (I hope so anyhow). We do still need to locate the pegs and guys for the awning, but this will be sorted at the dress rehearsal. All the kit is now sorted and stored in a stable, all ready for the Dress Rehearsal in a fortnight and the first event at the beginning of July.


When all was done we tacked up and headed off into the Northamptonshire countryside for a hack, all very calm and relaxing. I also took Magic into the new indoor school, which is complete with a tilt rail and promises to revolutionise winter training. A fantastic facility - we are very fortunate.

Having set up our tents, we lit the range and enjoyed a barbeque. Slightly different to your average barbeque in that one of the guests was Jason's horse Segunda! We were in her field, so I suppose it was only fair. As it got dark, we were treated to a lightening display as thunder rumbled around us - pretty spectacular and certainly a memorable evening.


We'll be back at Tournament Stud in two weeks time (19th/20th June) for the Dress Rehearsal, where the plan is to set up camp exactly as we would at an event and enjoy riding and socialising together as we polish up our skills. There will also be some photography and filming taking place to get some good quality shots of the group for publicity, so bring your kit and best 15th century smiles.