Adventure Time!

The Squire Life

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Elizabeth

At the bequest of the lovely Ally King, I have decided to dedicate this blog post into an account of the day to day activities of in the life of a squire. As I have been recovering, I have been spending a lot of time working on the ground and helping with the shows, and let me tell you what, it is not as easy as a job as one would think! So, let me enlighten you on the tales of my time squiring, and give each and every one of you insight to what it’s like to run things from the ground.

First, you have to prep the field. You take everything from the back (lances, helmets, guards, swords and shields), and you bring it to the field. Good!

Next, you stand around in case anyone needs help with their armor. Usually they don’t. Ok, doing well!

Then, it’s time to head out to the field. You wait for the knights to get called out, then you put their helmets and guards on; alright, not so difficult.

Now, here’s where things start getting fast paced. You give a knight a lance, he charges forth, smacks his opponent, and then resets back to his end. “But what should I be doing then?” you wonder. Well, it’s all about running, picking up broken lances, running back, squatting down, waiting, then doing it again and again! Wow! This is fun! I know, I know…

Sometimes you ever get to help fallen knights up, move horses, coil and unwind ropes, and even take off helmets and guards.

This position is known as the "Squire Squat". As Ally is demonstrating, she is ready to spring into action when needed!

This position is known as the “Squire Squat”. As Ally is demonstrating, she is ready to spring into action when needed!

Truly, the life of the squire is one of dedication and devotion, and requires tireless hours of practice and endless skill.

But let’s get serious for a minute; the ground crew is one of the most important aspects of having a show go smoothly. They really are there to make things go as planned, and make sure the things that need to happen, happen. Last week, I saw some of our dedicated squire’s sprint off the field, grab duct tape, and tape Sir Marcus’ helmet to his head as the pin had broken. We’ve had to jump in the lyst to help with unruly horses, quickly make repairs and adjustments, and try our hardest to make sure it all goes smoothly.

I am so grateful that there are always such great ground crew at all the places we visit; they always will do anything to try and help out. And it is amazing and wonderful and having been on both the horse and the ground, I want to take this opportunity to thank all the squires and ground crew for all their hard work! THANK YOU! Keep it up, you all are awesome!SFF3151523

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Return to Sherwood Forest

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Elizabeth

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.

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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.

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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

Love from Indy and I

Categories: Adventure Time!, Horses | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Elizabeth and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Fracture

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Elizabeth

As you are all aware, about a month ago, I took a obnoxious fall off my horse during a show in Louisiana that resulted in a unfortunate broken leg. Boo! Hiss! Yes, yes, I know, it’s been very inopportune and dealing with the whole recovery process has been a headache. But I’m so very determined to get whole again, I’ve been working extra hard to try and heal faster (and yes, I do believe yelling at my leg to heal faster will make it heal faster). Anywho, I decided it had been a while since I had written a blog post, and although my life so far has been little more than rest, rest, and more rest, I figured that I could still scrape together enough to put together a post.
A few days after the surgery, I was moved to a rehab hospital to continue my therapy. I was there for a little over a week, where I had therapists who were able to help my with my rehab and nurses to look after my medical needs. The first week was terrible. I was weak all the time, had no appetite, the pain was terrible, and I had such limited mobility that it took me a painful eternity to do anything. Finally, the doctors took a closer look at my blood work and figured out I was very anemic, turns out my red cell count was about half of what it should be. Yikes… So a blood transfusion was recommended, and even though I was nervous, we decided to go ahead with it. I had to have a PICC line inserted into my arm (a terrifying procedure where they float an IV line through your vein so it rests right above your heart – ok, it really wasn’t terrifying, but I thought it would be!) and spent half the night awake as my nurse monitored the 2 units of blood that was slowly pumping into my heart. Holy Wow! That transfusion helped me so much! Afterwards, I had more energy, my appetite came back, and was ready to get to work!
My absolutely wonderful mother flew down to see me and take me home when I was ready, and thankfully I was discharged the day before Thanksgiving. We decided to spend our last night in Louisiana exploring New Orleans with Dave, KD, and Jesse. Dave and KD were able to procure a wheelchair for me, and graciously pushed me around as we ventured through the city. I’d have to say the highlight of the day was stopping at Café Du Monde, a glorious little café in the French Quarter that serves wonderful beignets and coffee. It was a fantastic way to end my stay, and I couldn’t have asked for better company.

 

Cafe du Monde!

Cafe du Monde!

I flew back to Colorado the next day with a long list of instructions, a bag of meds, and my very own walker. Since then, it’s been nothing but lounging on the couch and physical therapy. I’ve started some fun knitting projects and helped my momma with some schoolwork and computer things, but for the most part have been pretty bored out of my mind. I’ve watched countless movies and entire seasons of TV shows and am starting to go stir crazy. I’ve devised my own workout for home, and have been working on that to help get me back into shape. My therapists say that I’m the only one who does all my reps, and I’m constantly pushing myself to spend more time on the bike or to increase my weights more. My hard work seems to of paid off though, just this week I was given the okay to transition off my walker and onto a single crutch. I’ve been cruising around fantastically with that, and although my leg is more fatigued at the end of the day, I’m feeling better and better. I’m even getting to the point where I’ll leave my crutch behind and limp around the house for little excursions to the kitchen or bathroom. I’m completely off all my medications as well, and just have to deal with muscle aches at this point. I’m going to the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday and am hoping I’ll get the okay to drive, and maybe even ride soon!

 

Transition to the crutch!

Transition to the crutch!

It’s been a long journey so far, and I am hoping that soon it will be over, but it has definitely been quite the experience. I’m so very thankful for all of my friends and family who have stepped up to offer support and encouragement, and for my glorious family who have all been such a huge part in my recovery. Thank you Christine, for keeping me constant company, and being there to hold my hand through the pain while I was in the hospital. Thank you Dave and KD for your visits, the never ending pep talks and encouragement, and of course the My Little Pony coloring book. Thank you Jesse for being the only one who could relate to what I was going through, and for the countless hours you spent watching cartoons and movies with me. Thank you Barb and Kelly for the stuffed horse, who has provided so much comfort during this time. Thank you to my Mother, Father, and Grandma for all the countless things you’ve done for me, there’s just too many to list, but they all mean so much.

 

 

Even though this has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fracture, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I’m sure that I’ve grown from this misfortune. I’m even more determined than I was before to get back up on a horse and get back in the lyst. I don’t know what struggles I will have to fight, be they physical or mental, but I’ve proven I’m determined, and I don’t plan to change anytime soon. Plus, if I’ve learned anything, it’s that I will always have support to give me that extra push to chase my dreams.

 

DISCHARGED! Thank you Collin, Dave, KD, Chris, and Jesse!

DISCHARGED! Thank you Collin, Dave, KD, Chris, and Jesse!

Much love to you all, and thank you to everyone for everything.

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Welcome to Minnesota!

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Elizabeth

After a long and harrowing trip from Sterling, NY, I now find myself in Chaska, MN for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! Huzzah! The road was long, and peppered with numerous ridiculous toll roads, but myself and the horses finally made it, and now the whole team is once again reunited together! It’s so nice to be able to see everyone again, and I am so thankful we have such a wonderful group of people that I get to call my dysfunctional joust family! We put the “fun” in “dysfunctional”! 😉

 

Leaving Sterling bright and early!

Leaving Sterling bright and early!

An ironic coincidence!

An ironic coincidence!

Anyways! We made it, and I’m once again set up in my tent, right next door to everyone else… there’s really no privacy here. Since the fair itself is situated on a rock quarry that is constantly expanding and eating up the land, we have to live about a mile away from the actual site in a weird little shanty town we’ve established. The worst part about our living situation is the fact that in order to get the horses to the site, we have to load everyone up and haul them back and forth, which is the biggest pain imaginable!

 

My first weekend is under my belt, and it was sure an exhausting one! We arrived on site Thursday evening, had a short practice Friday, and then jumped right into the show Saturday. Maggie is currently out with some sort of minor eye problem (the vet is coming out today) so Friday evening it was decided that I would ride Indigo. I’ve ridden him a few times in armor for practice, but haven’t been on him in over a month and have never done a show with him. I do enjoy riding him though, he’s a gorgeous 18.2 hand black Percheron with a wonderful disposition, all though he can be a bit of a idiot on occasion. There are 3 shows per day at this fair; a gaming show at 11am, then two jousts at 1pm and 4pm. Indy was a fired up dragon for the gaming show, pawing the ground and eager to go with gusto!

 

Ready to go! Love this big guy!

Ready to go! Love this big guy!

The gaming show consists of riding past a cabbage and slicing the thinnest bit off with a sword, then trying to spear 3 apples placed atop the stanchions, and finally running the rings, starting with a 6″ ring, then a 4″ ring, and ending with a 2″ ring. Since I haven’t gamed since March, we did pretty terrible, missing the cabbage, only hitting one of the apples, and only getting the 6″ ring. But the next day we did much better, hitting all 3 apples and getting both the 6″ and 2″ rings. Indy was a lot better the second day as well, and we had figured each other out by then. I also had fans who found me after the show and cheered me on some more, it was great.

 

For the joust show, we are sticking to the same script we used in Sterling, which means we do the bit where we get to ride up next to the knights and beat them with stick until they fall off their horses. Since Indy doesn’t care about armor or hitting, we can ride right up and thoroughly smash Harry before he tumbles off and we ride away victorious. Then for the rest of the show we pretty much ride around looking pretty, which we both do quite well, and everyone complements Indy on what a great horse he is. He is very regal and majestic looking with his hair all braided and decked in his shiny armor! I’ve had a lot of fun interacting with the audience at this fair as well, and am enjoying adding commentary to our bits.

Look at that concentration! We make such a good pair!

Look at that concentration! We make such a good pair!

 

At the end of the joust, after Harry is declared the winner of the ground fight, us lady riders are supposed to come out with the children of the crowd and enforce the kings justice, which basically means we hit him with the stunt shield and then we are declared the overall winners of the field. And for the last show yesterday, I completely threw the stunt shield right over Harry’s head. And then I did the completely wrong thing and went “OH NO!” and covered my face with my hands… it was terrible… Thank goodness Harry is good at thinking on his feet and without missing beat goes, “What was that?! Come here and give me a kiss baby!”, at which point I shriek and try to run away from him while Shelby quickly grabs the shield and then hits him good. Still, it was so unbelievably embarrassing to miss like that, and I had to go hid in Indy’s stall to escape everyone’s ridicule.

 

Week two will soon be upon us, and I plan to be up in armor competing against the boys in the joust. I can’t believe how quickly this has crept up on me, and although I’m eager and excited, I’m also extremely anxious as well. This whole week I will be practicing in the counter tilt in full armor, with my horse in full armor as well. We do not use a center tilt rope for our joust, so I have to get used to riding against someone with no middle barrier, which is a bit daunting. I also have to figure out if I will be riding Indigo or Tara for the joust, both are great jousting horses, I just need to figure out which one I will sync better with. However, since Tara is almost a full foot shorter than Indy, it would be less of a distance to fall from her! I will be sure to keep everyone updated with how this week goes, wish me luck!

 

Much love to you all!

Categories: Adventure Time!, Horses | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Final Farewell to a Fantastic Faire

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Elizabeth

Good day! This shall be the last blog post of the season that I write here in Sterling, New York, as bright and early tomorrow morning we will be on our way to Minnesota to perform there through September. The trailer is all packed up, goodbyes are looming closer, and Sterling will soon be another page in my book of adventure. But what an adventure I have had here! Sterling has given me an abundance of memories and experiences that I can carry with me forever.

But before I leave, let me regale you with the tales of this past weekend! As you know, our crew consisted of Dave, Jesse, and Ryan plus all the fantastic squires and ground crew. Since Maggie is in Minnesota, I was part of the ground crew, and I forgot just how much work it is! It was a nice reminder to be running back and forth across the field, heading horses, and bolting on grandguards, makes one appreciate squires that much more! However, I did enjoy it, and it was nice to be able to focus on the show instead of working with a horse.

And boy oh boy what a show it was! Silas was our Marshal, and he is absolutely hilarious with the perfect sense of humor and knack for entertaining the audience. He was riding Millie, who got a bit excited during the shows and he just ran with it, making the knights apologize when they scared her, joking about her twirling through the puddles, and jesting about horses jumping the fence to trample audience members. There’s really no good way to explain Silas to someone who’s never met him, but just believe me when I say he is easily one of my favorite people and is always entertaining. He is a wonderful performer, and was an integral part of making the last weekend so amazing.

The Gang

The Gang

Silas preparing to marshal with the Court and the squires looking on

Silas preparing to marshal with the Court and the squires looking on

 

 

Sir Orin Dane and Marcus

Sir Orin Dane and Marcus

Ryan was right on his game as well, and it was so easy to see how much he loved being back up in the armor. It brought a smile to my face when he’d shatter a lance and get to the end and just go crazy, yelling and screaming and pounding his chest. You know someone loves their job when they get that excited about it! Him and Marcus clicked right back together, and it was so nice to see them working together again. Ryan is a brilliant performer as well, and did a great job of riling up his audience and gaining their support; between the four of them on the field, the audience was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard them.

Sunday night the fair hosts Funky Formal, which is pretty much a big end of the season party where everyone dresses up, drinks, and dances the night away. There were some pretty amazing costumes too, like Mario and Bowser and Team Rocket and Meowth. I just dressed funky with a formal flair, pigtails mixed with glitter went just fine with a leather jacket and pencil skirt. I absolutely love to dance, and had an absolute ball rocking out on the dance floor like a total idiot until 1am. The best part was everyone else was out there dancing like a total idiot too, so we just had the time of our lives drinking and dancing together as one big Sterling Family.

The next day, tradition also dictated that everyone convene at the Bluffs to watch the sun sink down over Lake Ontario one final time. We got there and shared drinks and blankets and all recounted how much fun we’d had over the last few months. One of the crew climbed this treacherous path to this solitary island where he played his bagpipes silhouetted against the setting sun. It was beautiful! Becky braided my hair into this elaborate design for old time’s sake (she used to do my hair everyday in Sherwood), and I made friends with a katydid who landed on my shoulder. The sunset was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen on the lake and it was such a monumental way to end my time here. After it had gotten dark, we all drove into town to get some grub and ice cream together, the perfect way to end the evening.

I will be most forlorn to leave this wonderful place that I have been able to call home for the past two months, but am ever so excited for what Minnesota holds. Dave has promised me fun times at the Mall of America, delicious buffets, good shopping, swing dancing, and a plethora of other wonders. My farewell to Sterling is bittersweet, but I am eager to get on the road and see what other adventures lay in wait for me!

Much love to all, and I will talk to you again once I make base in Minnesota!

Categories: Adventure Time!, Jousting | 3 Comments

Saturday and Sunday’s Spectacular Synopsis

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Elizabeth

Well, it would seem another weekend has come and gone, and I must say, I feel like my time here in Sterling is quickly slipping away from me. This upcoming weekend will be the final weekend here and then I will be headed to Minnesota with the team to spend some time there. Due to an overlap in the schedules, we had to send most of the team up to Minneapolis already so they could get set up and be there for opening weekend while a few of us stay here and finish out Sterling. Dave and Jesse are staying to joust, Ryan will be coming in for the weekend to joust, and Silas will be marshalling. It will be reminiscent of Texas, and I am very eager to have the guys back together for a weekend!

The weekend went very well with Maggie, although I was a bit nervous to ride. Not due to anything horse related, however I stupidly was running on uneven ground and tripped and sprained my ankle quite badly on Friday. I still got up and rode that day, although it required me to mount on the right side and ride without the use of my stirrups (which actually ended up being a good exercise!). Maggie took good care of me and we ended up having a short, but successful ride. Thankfully my ankle didn’t bother me too much over the weekend, I just made sure to keep it wrapped, ice it on my breaks, and made sure to take lots of ibuprofen.

As far as Miss Maggie is concerned, I am more and more impressed with her talent as I get to spend time working with her. We’ve been working on her cadence and getting her to slow down and realize that she doesn’t need to speed thorough everything and that it’s actually easier to take things slowly and in a calm manner. Kelly put it in the simplest terms for us, “Try and do things in slow motion. Get her to go as slow and unrushed as she can”, which really made me pay more attention to the speed and rhythm at which we do things. By the end of the week, we were able to do passes in the lyst with her head dropped down and relaxed at a nice, slow trot. Her departures are getting better too, and instead of wanting to rush into things, she’s starting to slow down some.

She did well during the show as well, and except for a few moments of panic, she is starting to get more and more comfortable in a show setting. They had put up a center lyst rope for the weekend to keep Marcus running strait, and oh my goodness, you would have thought there was a horse eating snake in the middle of the lyst. Let’s just say Maggie had a couple special moments realizing that the rope in the middle wasn’t going to hurt her or jump out and scare her. She once again was able to make her passes without too much fuss, and I can notice improvement every show. She’s definitely still a work in progress, but I see how far she’s come in the last 2 months and it makes me very happy!

Standing so quietly! And I'm so excited! Over what, I don't exactly know...

Standing so quietly! And I’m so excited! Over what, I don’t exactly know…

 

We’ve been preparing for the final weekend here, and since Ryan hasn’t arrived yet, I’ve been filling in for him during practices. Since the rest of the team is in Minnesota, we’ve only got Abe, Tara, and Marcus here for jousting horses, and Millie stayed to be our marshal horse. I got up on Marcus today in half my armor and all of his armor, as did Jesse and Dave, so we could run through the show. I do enjoy riding Marcus, and even though he’s a well trained jousting horse, he still has his issues that need to be worked though. I was able to apply a lot of what I’ve been working on with Maggie to Marcus, and we ended up having a good ride together. Tomorrow I’m riding with my helm, and I’m ever so excited to lose most of my vision and ability to breathe… All part of the jousting process unfortunately!

 

Preparing for the final weekend at Sterling Renaissance Festival! Yey Marcus, such a good old man!

Preparing for the final weekend at Sterling Renaissance Festival! Yey Marcus, such a good old man!

Time for a fun story! Monday was spent packing the two trailers that were headed to MN, and as part of the packing process, we had to pack up feed. As we are moving hay, we discover that a giant colony of big, fluffy bumblebees had made their nest in one of the pallets that the hay was on. So as we’re moving this hay, all these angry bees start coming up and swarming us. People were either panicking and running away from the bees, or trying to remain calm and unnoticed. I was calm… until one flew in my hair and stung my hand. Then I panicked and started running and doing the “flee the bee” dance. It was quite comical to see everyone running around flailing at little fluffy bees, even if they did sting us!

We leave in a week to head to Minneapolis, and even though I am very excited to get somewhere new, I will also miss Sterling a lot. However, once we get to Minnesota, I should hopefully be able to joust there, and that makes me very excited! I will make sure to keep everyone updated on my travels, and will most definitely post at least once more before the wheels hit the road!

Much love to you all!

Categories: Adventure Time!, Horses, Jousting | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

To tired to tinker with a thoughtful title….

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Elizabeth

Let me open this post with an apology. I know that I stated that I would try to update my blog twice a week, but honestly I have been so busy and have had so much come up that I haven’t had much time to. Last week a vicious storm ripped through town and caused some damage (tree’s down, holes in my tent, and a lost wifi signal…). So posting has been difficult for me lately and I feel very out of touch. Not having any service on site or in the surroundings little towns has also been a pain to deal with. Anyways, let me just start by saying that I am sick of the rain here. Seriously peeved at the amount of moisture falling from the sky. Sunday we had to perform for almost 45 minutes in a torrential down pour that left me soggy and dripping. Water in my eyes, soaked through my boots, and every piece of clothing I had on was dripping. The arena completely flooded and we had to shorten or last show due to the condition of the field. Today it started coming down in buckets as we were riding and of all the riders, only 3 of us stuck it out and continued to ride in the flooding conditions. Yep, we’re hardcore jousters. Who then have soggy bottoms and socks and end up putting diapers on their feet to keep them dry. Ok, only I did that, but it worked. Even though I was teased relentlessly about it. Maggie has been…. a challenge. She is definitely the most difficult horse I have ridden and it’s been a definite change of pace working with her. I feel like I’m learning so much by working with her, but am also so worried that I will end up not teaching her something correctly and end up causing some bad habits with her. I know I’m not a perfect rider, but if Kelly and Dave feel I have the skills to work with her I guess  I need to have a little more confidence in myself. My brain is near exploding after every ride and on show weekends half the time I want to strangle her and the other half I want to sing praise to her about how well she is doing. I know she’s dealing with a lot in the show, and I’m extremely proud of what she is dealing with, but her problem points irritate me because I know that she is capable of performing at the level that I am asking her. She’s great at practice, but she’s so smart that she’s figured out that she can do it wrong in the show and because she only has one shot to do it, she can get away with it. Last week, I discovered that she’s getting frightened of not only the sound of the armor but also of people screaming (like when I make my war cry to go in and hit the guys or when they cry out in alarm when I smack them), so for practice, Harry rode in his armor and I rode along side him and just hit him with a stick and we both started screaming. Maggie and Penny took such a fright to this, they both took off around the field. When we finally got them stopped, Kelly just looks over and says, “Ok, now do it again”. So we did. Both of us rode along in the field screaming bloody murder and me hitting harry until they were both ok with it. It was pretty hysterical and throughout the rest of practice we just have surprise screams to help desensitize Maggie.   I don’t have much else to say, except  tequila is nicknamed “te-kill-ya” for a reason and I am so grateful for amazing friends. We also recently pitched in and bough a Nintendo 64 to play Super Smash Brother on and me and the guys were up till almost midnight playing it while Collin’s wife, Christine, made us snacks. It was awesome. I’m also getting to put my vet skills to work as we’re had some medical issues with the horses. Abraham had a abscess burst out through his heel bulb after we spent almost 2 weeks soaking and treating him and Christine had a puncture wound get infected and abscessed that we’ve been dealing with. I’ve spent almost every day here either soaking and packing a foot or flushing, irrigating, and cleaning a wound. Oh, and who can forget battling a picky Cylde to take her meds… However, I do love it, and secretly really enjoy getting to help fix our sickly steeds.   This week I”m planning to really start getting back into shape with my armor, and it means I’ll be working with Maggie on her training first, then suiting up and riding one of the more seasoned horses in my kit. It’s going to mean lots of riding, and I know I’m going to be sore by the end of the week, but my goal is to be ready and confident to joust by the end of Sterling. Grrr!   I’ll sign off with this lovely picture. Epic chocolate fight. We manage to have fun even when we’re soaking wet and miserable with the weather. Moral of the story, don’t piss off a girl with chocolate cake.

Chocolate Fight!

And here’s a pretty rainbow! I think it’s starting to turn into a double rainbow!!

rainbow

Rainbow over Sterling

 

Categories: Adventure Time!, Horses | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Beginnings

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Elizabeth

Good morning excited and eager new readers! Thank you for taking the time to read my first (of hopefully many!) blog posts. For those of you not familiar with me and my journey thus far, let me introduce myself! I am the Dame Elizabeth and have been infatuated and completely overtaken for my love of horses and jousting. About a year and a half ago, I unknowingly stumbled upon the sport of jousting, and since then have been enthusiastically pursuing it. Focusing on the full contact style, I have on and off been pursuing this style for the last year or so, and have most recently been invited to join up with Warhorse Productions and their team, the New Riders of the Golden Age. They are the oldest full contact troupe in the United States and focus as much on horsemanship as they do on jousting. I was picked up by them after jousting at Sherwood Forest Faire in Texas the past few years and so far, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to ride with them! I’ve quit my job working at a small animal clinic and am ready to dedicate myself to my passion.

Now that the introductions are out of the way, let me begin to tell you the tales of my adventures thus far in the distant land of… Sterling, New York.

state signs

State Signs!

Rather than spending pages recounting my travels and tales thus far, let me summarize; I traveled from Colorado to New York over the course of 3 days, spanning a total of 9 states, 1,822 miles, and over 26 hours in the car. It. Was. Not. Fun. Especially when you’re driving alone. But thankfully I had amazing friends whom I was able to stay with on my travels, and had good snacks to eat, and jammin’ music to listen to, so it was manageable, to say the least. Even though I’ve only been here a week now, I’ve already made some wonderful friends, and enjoy the crew that I’ll be working with (more on them later). I’m staying in a tent, complete with futon, lighting, fan, etc. so the situation isn’t as bad as you might think. There has been some talk of raccoons forming raiding parties and attacking at night, so I’ve been sleeping with one eye open thus far (UPDATE: the stories were right, there are definitely nosy coons in the night that cause you to lose sleep and go to drastic measures to deter them). The bugs are of course atrocious, and I’m trying exceptionally hard not to scratch my numerous mosquito bites as I try to write this. But it’s all worth it because the horses and people here are just fueling my passion even further, and every night I go to bed with a smile on my face because I’m so content.

When I first decided to actually pursue this opportunity to come out here and work with the troupe, I had a lot of people question my choices because they couldn’t understand the logic behind it. Truth be told, there is no logic, but instead there is passion. I’ve come to realize just how much of an impact horses have on my life, and while this transition does not make any sense logically, it makes sense in my heart. Today I woke up sore and bug bitten after an unfulfilling night of sleep, but as soon as I got out to the horses and started morning chores, everything seemed to fade away. For me, being around horses is therapy, and there really is nothing better for my soul. The past few days I’ve faced challenges with the horses I’ve rode, but there is nothing quite as fulfilling as that moment when it clicks between you and the horse and you both flow together harmoniously. Time doesn’t matter. Personal problems go away. Stress and doubt dissolve. It’s just you and a two thousand pound animal working together. I’ll definitely spend some more time in my future posts going over the riding techniques we focus on here and everything I’ve been learning, but I cone wholeheartedly say that this is some of the most rewarding riding I’ve done. I’ve left every ride happy with the accomplishments I’ve made, and am proud of how my riding skills are slowly improving. My mentors here are both wonderful riders and teachers, and I’m so grateful to have the resources I do through them.

Besides the jousting crew being stellar, I’m very fortunate to be able to be a part of the faire as a whole. The cast here is wonderful, and Sterling Renaissance Faire is the only faire to hire professional actors as their cast. Aside from being skilled and top notch at their job, they are all friendly and welcoming, and I’ve already started to get to know them all. Friday evening, they practiced their “pub sing”, which is basically an event at the end of the day where the entire cast gathers and sings song together. The sun was setting behind them, and as we sat there and watched them practice, it made me realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity with these amazing people. The entire cast is all about love and happiness, and I’ve heard countless tales of people who have done as I have, and left their 9-5 jobs to live this lifestyle. Everyone is always all smiles, and it makes me more confident that I made the right decision.

Fair opens this weekend, so soon we will begin blocking out the show and figuring out our positions. I think I will do a mid-week blog post that focuses more on the riding aspect, and then spend next Monday after opening weekend focusing on how first weekend went. If there’s ever anything that you as a reader would like for me to focus on, please don’t hesitate to let me know and I will gladly focus an entry on that! And any questions you may have, please forward them on to me.

Thanks again for reading and I look forward to your feedback on my first post!

 

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