End of 2019
A lot of changes happened during 2019, some expected, some surprises. Well, that’s life…
The year started with some regular joust training sessions but circumstances put an end to that, and Rev needed the break. So I spent more time with Pinta and Vicente and Keldan.
I had a lot of opportunties to attend foot combat training with the lovely JOAS people. Some session with armour, some without, doing longsword, poleaxe, spear, arming sword and shield etc.
In June we went to the World Jousting Championships in Gippsland. My first reenactment event (as part of JOAS’s 14th Century encampment) and first time watching jousting with solids. Unfortunately, I had to watch entirely from the sidelines. On the upside, I helped with setting up and firing a trebuchet. What an awesome machine that is! Read more about it in this blog post.
In September, I went with JOAS again to St.Ives Medieval Faire. Lots more jousting to watch, which is interesting enough, but much more interesting when you know most of the people on the field. We did an arming demo in the commons area, and a bit of a halfswording demo as well. Read more about it in this blog post.
In October, we went to Timeline Festival at Kryal Castle. I competed in the skill at arms on Rev and chose to ride him in full harness (armour), and not ride for a win this time, as I wanted him to take it easy. We had a lovely round that made me proud of him and we cheered on a good friend who won it. Amber rode Sparky again, and she did really well. Aside from the skill at arms competition, I hung out with JOAS. The inclement weather meant we didn’t end up doing an arming and fighting demo in armour, but we did walk in the grand parade both days. On Saturday on foot, and on Sunday, since I already had Rev there, I rode with MEA in the parade first and then again with JOAS. A really nice weekend with good friends. Read more about it in this blog post.
From the October onwards, opportunities opened up again for regular joust and other mounted combat training, after hooking up with The King’s Horses, and by the end of the year, we had clocked up a lot of good training session in armour. Here is a little video of Pinta showing some smooth Paso Fino gait while I’m wearing full armour.
In November, I spent one day at the Historical Equestrian Combat Symposium at Kryal, taking Sparky. This year, no jousting as nobody else in the group was up for it, but spent time refining lance skills during a lot of quintain runs, and learning the thumb release in the horse archery section. Sparky was such a good sport. A brief video of one of the runs is on the Facebook page. Read more about it in this blog post.
