Monthly Archives: September 2014

Dustin’ Off Your Britches and Gettin’ Back On

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Elizabeth

Happy Monday my eager readers! After a long and harrowing weekend, I am happy to announce that I survived another weekend here in Minnesota, although it was a struggle. I definitely have had better weekend in the past, but still was able to walk away from my shows with improvements for the future and new lessons learned from my mistakes.

Saturday was by far one of the hardest days I’ve had to get through working here at the company. I was set to joust Harry in the gaming show, and we were both eager to finally meet on the track. I was trying hard to focus myself and not get stressed or anxious, as I knew Abe would immediately pick up on my emotions if I let them get the better of me. I felt like I was doing alright, but started to lose my composure after the first pass. Slowly, everything started slipping downhill, and instead of being able to stay in control of my world, I let myself slip too. It’s my biggest downfall at this point; that instance where one thing goes amiss and I am unable to refocus myself. Long story short, I was only able to get two rushed and sloppy passes in before I somehow lost my balance for no real reason and simply fell off Abe at the end of lyst.

Embarrassed and frustrated does not even begin to describe how I felt lying in the dirt after my mess of a joust. I was so upset that I couldn’t tune in with my horse and frustrated at the fact that even though I realized I was panicking and could feel myself doing completely the wrong things, I was unable to correct them. I had to quickly head back to the tent to get out of my gear and take a couple minutes to myself before I was ready to see anyone, let alone go over how the show had gone. I was able to get my composure back and tell myself that things would be better. Dave talked with me for a bit afterwards and I tried to just move on and focus on the rest of the shows for the day. Tara and I would be working together as Lady Riders and I had high hopes that she would help turn around my misfortune.

I was wrong. Right out of the gate I had my day turn from bad to worse within minutes of the show starting. We set up for the Baston course and prepare to make our salute passes, where we all charge and pass each other in the center. Tara gets a bee in her bonnet, sees Christine crowding towards us, panics, slams on the breaks and spins in front of Christine and Mark, throwing me into the dirt as Christine’s feet thud right next to my head. I was so upset that I’d come off two shows in a row, I jump up, avoid the horses running towards me for the second pass and march right back to Tara. Brushing off concerned squires, I mount up and quickly try to resettle her and bring her attention back before we run in to hit Harry with our beating stick. We made it through the rest of the show ok, but boy oh boy was I even more frustrated by the end of that show.

I was trying so hard just to move on and let my mistakes be in the past, but at the same time, it’s very hard to get back up and dust yourself off when you come off twice during two shows on two different horses. I was questioning my riding ability and beating myself up over the mistakes I’d made. Riding horses can be a cruel and unforgiving passion, but can also offer the greatest rewards and accomplishments as well, you just have to stick with it through the hard times. Our last show came around and I was ready to grit my teeth and have a kick ass show. Of course, as we’re setting up, Dave has to get a few quick jabs in, asking if I want a seatbelt or maybe some super glue for my saddle. I’m able to joke back, telling him some Velcro would be nice!

I’m so glad I was able to refocus myself for the last show, because Tara and I did fantastic together, and I think it was the most successful ride I’ve ever had on that little mare. I just worked on the things I knew I had messed up on with Abe during the first show; getting her to respond to my leg and seat while giving her a loose and relaxed rein. We really connected, and I felt like I chipped away a little more at the ideas that Dave is trying to teach me. I know I won’t be able to perfect my riding overnight, but the fact that I had a mini break through with Tara made my day immensely better. Plus I stayed on the entire show, Tara and I effectively hit Harry with our beating stick, and I knocked him out with a good stunt shield hit at the end. As always, my mom was a great support too, asking me at the end of the day what I had taken away from this all. I replied I needed to trust my horse more, because Abe and Tara will take care of me if I let them, and I need to ride with my leg and body, not by panicking and pulling on their face. Overall, it was shitty, I was upset, but it happens to all of us, and we all make idiots of ourselves. Tomorrow would just be another opportunity to prove I can do better.

Yey! We knocked off Sir Henry!

Yey! We knocked off Sir Henry!

Lo and behold, the next day was better! I decided just to take the gaming show as an opportunity to school with Abe, and tune back in with him without having to worry about making passes with anyone. I really focused on working him with my leg, using my seat to stop him, and not letting him get worked up and rushed. At the end of the show, Shelby and I did dry passes in the lyst with Dave coaching me, and it was exactly what I needed. By our final pass, I had Abe running nicely off the “scary” end without getting upset with Penny running by us, and stopping nicely at the end. Abe and I worked together for the rest of the day, and both our shows as Lady Riders went beautifully. Now all that’s left is to figure out how to transfer all that into my jousting, and not let my helmet and guard hinder me when I’m in the lyst. It’s definitely going to be something I’m going to have to put a lot of work into, but I know that it will pay off immensely in the end!

I’m so happy that the weekend turned out for the better, and I was able to turn around my terrible Saturday. Next weekend is our last weekend here in Minnesota, so I’m hoping to be able to end the faire on a good note. I’ll be diligently practicing with Abe all this week!

And as a bonus for you all, here’s some awesome pictures from the lovely Amanda Rolls, one of our most senior squires here and a wonderful help!

 

Preparing to vanquish my foes ;)

Preparing to enter the Lyst

Abe and I on our ride in. Ignore my constipated face, at least Abe looks bad ass here...

Abe and I on our ride in

Much love to you all!

Categories: Horses, Jousting | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Jousting, jousting, and MORE jousting!!

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Elizabeth

Once again, I find myself terribly behind in my blog entries. Therefore I will begin with an apology. However the last week was incredibly difficult, as I unfortunately I started the week with a visit to the emergency room and ended it with a crippling loss. It was a tough week to get through, and I was very distracted physically and mentally to put much effort into the blog, but thankfully things are starting to settle down and I have some spare time to sit down and write some things down. I know I have 2 weekends to catch you up on, so this post might be lengthy, or it might be broken into two separate posts. I haven’t quite decided yet, but I will promise you that I will get you caught up!

I believe that I last left off with my entry about my first official passes with the company, so I will try and pick up starting the week after that. Nothing much else to say there, except Indigo has been working through some foot issues, so I’ve been playing musical horses with Abe and Tara. Had some good rides with Tara, but boy oh boy does that little engine have some go in her! I wasn’t planning to joust the next weekend, because Indy was out, but last minute decided to do the gaming show with Abraham. It was a quick decision we made the morning of, but we managed to get everything together and have a nice show. Dave’s moved up from the nice passes, and has been delivering spot on, crushing blows that have kept me on my toes. Abe and I were riding together smoothly and managing to keep steady until out last pass when my saddle rigging on the left side completely busted apart and sent me crashing to the ground. Upon falling, both straps on the left side of my breastplate completely busted as well, leaving me and Abe a tattered, falling apart mess. Overall, it was a good show and I was just happy to be in the lyst again!

Since I have been working with getting into the lyst and jousting, Maggie has been spending most of the weekends up top since there isn’t a need for her on the field at this time. However, last weekend we decided to bring her down and have her start getting used to the atmosphere, including the elephants and camels and bouncy trampoline. Shelby and I were working Millie and her and she was doing pretty alright for me considering all the new things she was encountering. However, something set her off and she decided it was imperative to run home as fast as she could. My luck with saddles had apparently run out for the day, because my left stirrup completely broke mid run, and I was sent rolling though the ground, eventually being stopped by a solid concrete wall. After laying there for a while, I was able to get up, where I was then checked up and made sure nothing was terribly broken. I had a rather large knot on my head, a tremendous scrape on my arm, some nice road rash and bruising on my hip, a painful big toe, and I managed to re-injure my bad knee. My whole left side hurt, and it was painful to breath in deep breaths, but nothing was seriously hurt, and I hadn’t lost conscious. Mostly I was upset that I came off and had hurt myself in a non-jousting related incident, and irritated that this might sideline my jousting.

I refused a trip to the urgent care that night, opting instead to cover myself in ice-packs and rest up for the night. However, the next morning, I was incredibly dizzy and unfocused, so one of the first aid people who had seen me the day before strongly suggested that I take a visit to the urgent care to make sure there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with my head. Thankfully Christine was free to take me in, so I got to spend the day in the emergency room making sure nothing was seriously wrong. After some poking and prodding, along with a CT scan, it was diagnosed that I had nothing more than a concussion and come minor chest contusions. Thankfully, I just had to deal with some lingering headaches and a abundance of bruising the following week; nothing that was going to keep me out too long!

Tuesday I was back up on Abe training, and although we took it nice and easy, it was still great to be out on Abe again. He is such a gifted horse, and I really enjoy working with him. Dave has done an incredible job training him to this point, and I always walk away from our rides impressed with his abilities. Riding Abe also helps me to really quiet down my hands and my body; Abraham is so fine tuned, I get to work with how little it takes to get him to do something. Most of the time it’s just the barest touch or encouragement and he is right there ad responsive. It makes me work on putting more trust into him, as I have to relax and work off much lighter commands. Dave was telling me how I want everything I do to have meaning, and not just to hang on him or give him mixed signals. I want to ask for something, and then let him go. It can be frustrating at first, because most people’s reaction is to tense up and grab at the reins when you don’t get what you want right away, but once you find each other, it’s quite rewarding.

Charge on!!!

Charge on!!!

The next weekend saw Abe and I armoring up in the lyst together again, once again taking passes with Dave and Tara. I was having a stressful morning already, having to completely fix my broken saddle and was in a panic trying to find stirrups that were long enough for me to use. It was just one of those off mornings, and I couldn’t shake my jitters and anxiety. Abe obviously picked up on it, and was an energized rocket on the field. My lance control was terrible, I couldn’t make any hits, and was fighting hard to keep my horse under control. However, I did manage to stay on through all of Dave’s hits, but definitely walked away with a long lists of improvements I wanted to work on for the next day.

A series of surprise events led us into having to do some last minute show rearranging Sunday morning, and after brainstorming how to fix our problem, it was decided that Dave would sit out the joust in the morning in order to marshal and I would get to meet Mark in the lyst for passes. I was ecstatic, as I had been nagging on the other guys to joust with me for the last week or so. We hustled to get ourselves and the horses ready, and I was thankful Mark was able to make jokes and help lighten the mood, as I was worried I’d panic again like I had the day before. Abe and I entered the lyst and I could already feel that his demeanor was calmer and more in tune with me. We come forward, and I was able to completely brake my lance the first pass out. I was thrilled, shouting and whooping at the end of the lyst. Second pass saw us both deliver good hits, and at this point I was ahead in points. We came about for our last pass and we met with a tremendous impact. I felt myself being rocked backwards, and tried to bring myself forwards… accidentally over compensating and taking myself right off the side of Abe. Drat! I quickly bounced to my feet and walked to the middle to meet Mark, where we embraced and laughed and high fived each other. It was heartening to know that I rocked him back pretty good with that last hit, and I probably would have had the lead had I not come tumbling off. Oh well. It was still a great show and I was very happy with my passes and Abraham.

This week I plan to work incredibly hard to start building up my stamina and getting used to the rigors of doing a full show, which includes not only lance passes, but the baston course and a ground fight as well. I also get to learn how to stunt fall in armor, which is something I’m less than thrilled about, but it’ll give me a good reason to practice getting up in my armor too, because right now I look like a floundering turtle trying to stand up. Lots of work ahead of me, but I’m ready to buckle down and get it done!!

Oh, and here’s an amazing shot of me spearing an apple right in half! The part I like best about this picture is that you can see the reflection of everything in front of me in my breatplate! Pretty nice to have stainless steel armor with a mirror finish!

Precision!

Death to the apple!!

Much love to you all! Wish me luck as my training continues!

Categories: Horses, Jousting | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lady of the Lyst

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Elizabeth

Well well well my lovely readers, I have the most exciting news for you ever. I have officially become the first woman to joust as a part of the New Riders of the Golden Age! This Labor Day, I entered the lyst against Dave and took my first passes as an official part of the team. And it was awesome. I am so incredibly proud of where my journey has brought me and how all my training and hard work are starting to paying off; Indigo and I were a perfect team and I couldn’t be happier with how the weekend went.

As you know, I spent all last week training in armor with Indy every day, getting used to riding in my helm and gauntlets. I worked on my lance control, worked on the baston course and sword work with Indy, and focused on running against another horse without a counter tilt in the middle. We train our horses to run without a center tilt in the middle, just two end ropes on the side of the lanes, so it’s important to be able to ride against another rider without your horse drifting into the center. The more I work in my armor, the more comfortable I become in it, and as Dave always preaches, I want it to feel like a second skin. It’s definitely a different experience to ride in armor, your vision is very limited, your range of motion is decreased, and you have to feel your horse more than see what you’re doing.

Saturday and Sunday, Shelby and I participated in the games while wearing our armor. I figured it would be a good way to get a feel for Indigo and see how he would act during an actual show, since he can be a lazy heifer during practice. I didn’t have to worry about riding in my helm or guard, and could practice the rings and my targeting during the gaming shows. Indy did great, and even when he did start getting hot, I was able to settle him down and work through his fire instead of getting frustrated. I really enjoyed being on the field in armor, and me and Shelby being out there in our full gear got a great reception from the crowd. Per usual, Shelby managed to show us all up in most of the events, but Indy and I definitely improved from Saturday into Sunday!

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Sunday afternoon I decided it was time to approach Kelly and ask his permission to joust in Monday’s gaming show. Dave had offered to suite up and ride against me, but ultimately it would be Kelly’s decision. When I talked to Kelly, he completely made my day by saying yes to Dave and I jousting, and I immediately was filled with equal parts of excitement and nervousness. A million “what if’s” filled my head, and I tried to just be excited for my big debut, but still had butterflies. I knew I shouldn’t be worried, as I had jousted before, but this was a new group and I really wanted to prove myself to Kelly and show him that he hadn’t made a mistake brining me on to the team and that I would be able to perform to his standard.

The big day finally arrived, and I was up early to make sure my armor was all good to go, my lances were made up, and everything was in order for me to have a successful day. Word quickly spread that I would be jousting, and I had numerous people come up and wish me luck before the show. Dave told me the first two passes he would sweep his lance so I could get set up and get control of my universe, but on the third pass, he was hitting me. As the hour approached, we started getting ready, and to my surprise, I was able to stay calm and focused, and not let myself get worked up. We walked to the field, mounted up and patiently waited for the games to finish so we could enter the lyst.

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Harry was marshalling the show, and we had discussed how he would introduce the joust in a way that the audience would support me entering the lyst for the first time against a seasoned rider to test my skills. As he called me in, I rode out on Indy, decked out in our green and black, and rode a lap around the field, and I couldn’t help but smile and laugh with the excitement. We got to the end and I put on my helm and had my guard attached. Previously, I would start getting anxious and worked up as soon as my guard and helm were put on, but this day I was focused. I knew I had a job to do, and I knew that I was going to go out there and do my best. Indy and I quietly stepped into the lyst and I faced Dave and Abe at the other end.

At the call, “Knights at the ready… Charge on!” I raised my lance to Dave and encouraged Indy forward. He smoothly slipped into a canter and I somehow got my lance into place for a break. I felt the impact and when I got to the end, I kept wondering why my lance was so light. Then I saw it was completely broken and immediately got giddy with the feeling of a break on my first pass. Dave and I trotted back to our ends, saluting each other as we rode past. Second lance in hand, we charged forth again, Dave once again sweeping, and me missing. We once again made our way back to our ends and received our third and final lances.

I raised my lance to Dave and once again Indy and I rode forth. I remember trying to focus on putting my weight forward and ridding through the hit, because this time Dave was aiming to hit. And hit he did. Before I could even get my lance aimed, Dave slammed into me, connecting right in the middle of my guard. I was twisted backwards and remember thinking for a mere moment, “I can save this…”, and then I slid off Indy and thudded into the dirt. Oops. I tasted blood and knew I had bitten my tongue, but nothing else was hurting. I turtled around on the ground for a bit before getting up, and then I see Dave walking down the lyst towards me with a big smile on his face. After making sure I was ok, I  gave him a big hug and he told me, “you did good”.

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We headed out into the audience to talk with the crowd, and I received many many compliments on both my riding and my jousting. To me, I almost appreciate the compliments that focus on my riding skills rather than my jousting skills, because anyone can sit on a horse in armor, but it takes skill and practice to be able to successfully ride a horse in armor. Back in the tent, all the gang was supportive of my first official passes and my blowout, and I was just aglow with the adrenaline and happiness of officially entering the ranks with the company. Dave gave me the best compliment of all, stating that I was the most poised and in control he’s ever seen me, and that I’d “grown-up” from the last time he’d jousted with me. I was so proud of Indy and I, it was such a great feeling to get back in the lyst and have such a good show.

I can’t wait to see how the rest of Minnesota goes, and am eager to see where my jousting career takes me. There’s definitely no way that I could be doing this without the support and encouragement of all my friends and family, as it has been a huge change and commitment for me. I’d like to send an especially huge shout out to my amazing team; Mark, Harry, Jesse, and Shelby, for always reminding me that it’s about having fun, and they’ll always be there to support me. But most of all, I want to say thank you to Dave, because he is the one that saw my potential a year and a half ago at Sherwood, and he’s the one that brought me back to Sherwood, and pushed the company to bring on a female jouster in New York. He’s responsible for pushing me as well, and giving me all the tools I need to be successful in my endeavors; always being there with advice and coaching, always pushing me to get in my armor, and always motivating me to get better. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, and will be forever grateful for the opportunities and support he’s given me.

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So thank you to everyone, and here’s to more adventure and more broken lances!

Categories: Jousting | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

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