Return to Sherwood Forest

As most of you know, I had my first jousting experience at Sherwood Forest Faire 2 years ago, and then last year I spent a month there training with the New Riders before joining their team. Needless to say, this faire is important to me, and hands down one of my absolute favorites. Not only in terms of the performance we get to put out, but the people there are all wonderful, and the fans are also great. We’ve been here since the beginning of February (yes, I know, shame on me for not updating this sooner….) and I have nothing but good things to report!

First and foremost, this year the whole team got to come down to Texas and instead of the usual 4 horses, we were able to bring 8. Indigo got to come along too, and me and that big dumpling have been having a great time together. I really enjoyed riding him in Minnesota, but then he had a ton of foot problems and I then I had my problems, so it’s been nice to get back in sync with him. I definitely forot how huge he is! At 18.2 hands, it completely reinforces his nickname of “Horsezilla”. I’ve only been riding in the gaming show thus far as I work on getting back into the swing of things, and Indy and I seem to be doing well together.

We’ve put the gaming show together in such a way that it pits the guys vs the girls. Shelby and I represent the women and Mark and Harry are the men’s team. We then all take turns at slicing the cabbage, spearing the apples, and running the rings on the quintain. So far, I believe the women have won 3 of the 4 shows, so I feel safe in saying that we make a pretty fantastic team. I always like the gaming show, because not only can we make it fun, but it’s also a good time to check in with your horse in front of a crowd. Indy’s gotten into a bad habit of wanting to rush of the line coming from the audience side, so it’s been good to reinforce quietly standing and having a relaxed and easy departure.

In between shows Shelby and I have been doing horse rides (yey…) and then have been helping to squire for the guys during the joust. As of now, our shows consist of all 3 guys doing round robin matches and then a ground fight at the end. Dave, Mark, and Harry have all been killing it on the field though, and so far, we’ve had some amazing shows with lots of hard hits and unhorsings. I’m actually really enjoying squiring, although it always makes me increasingly eager to get back into my armor and start hitting guys with sticks again!

Speaking of armor, last week I suited up and we had a look at how things could of possibly happened to of caused my break to happen. And oddly enough, there’s nothing blaringly obvious that would give reason or rhyme as to why the leg broke. However, it was nice to put some of my gear on and work with Indy. I plan to keep wearing it as much as I can and get back in the lyst as soon as I get the go ahead to. Shelby and I even plan to ride in our armor like we did in Minnesota for the gaming show to get even more practice that way.

I’m really enjoying the time we have here in Texas, and really hope that things continue to move in a positive direction. Having the whole team here is just wonderful, and I’m quite glad we didn’t have to split up. Like I said earlier, there’s some really great people here in Texas, and I’ve been given a great opportunity to do some work with a great organization out here. The foundation is called Horse Boy and they work with autistic kids through horses and different learning methods. I’ll be sure to update you all on how that goes with them, because it really is a fantastic organization!

Sorry this post isn’t the most riveting or exciting, but things have been pretty vanilla with me coming back from my injury. I’m just taking things slow and easing myself back into my routine. I think I’ll focus my next post on more horse oriented stuff, and try to get some pictures from practice.

If you’re in the Texas area, do try and stop by the Sherwood Forest Faire. It truly is a fun experience, and you’ll get to see an amazing joust!

Much love to you all!

Love from Indy and I