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Jousting Training Update
May. 17th, 2004 10:04 amWell, I really haven't written anything regarding this in a while. I haven't had much time for LJ. And I know how riveting my training documentary has been for some people. :)
Anyway, the last few weeks has been pretty intensive. Some people have asked me if I'm jousting this year. That'd be a bit of a stretch for a guy who had never been on a horse until last year. But I will tell you that my training has come a long way and while I might not actually be jousting, I may have the ability and skills to joust (just won't be very pretty).
I learned one big limitation of my skills, I'm not really prepared for how a horse might begin it's canter, nor that it might actually go a little faster than a canter. As I mentioned, I'd been part of training a back-up horse in the event we needed it. Well, for the first time, I cantered on one of those horses that is already trained. More to the point, I cantered at the quintain on a horse that was already trained. And his take-off was SCARY. Sometimes, he actually rears, and I thought I was going to fall off the back of the horse. So what was my reaction? I tried to pull myself forward by pulling on the reigns. What does that tell the horse? Slow down or stop. DUMBASS! So to get over that bad habit, I started grabbing the saddle with my free hand. While this kept me from pulling on the reigns, it didn't leave me a hand to hold the lance with.
So the next week, I was determined to hold the lance, even if I didn't hit the quintain.
First off, the horse had been through two other jousters (rather, one jouster and a jouster in training) for a combined seven passes. One pass each without a lance, and then four and two passes with a lance respectively. So when I got on the horse, he was a bit sweaty (as it was very hot out) and was a bit tired. (The horse had also been lunged before we starting working since he was "full of piss and vinegar".) So when I got on, he wasn't as gung ho to run quite as fast. But he knows (and seems to enjoy) his job. I did three passes.
First pass, I got on the horse, the horse was in position, I decided to go without a lance, I was given the signal, I gave the horse the signal, he reared ever so slightly, and I cantered from one end of the list to the other. About the time you get to the quintain, it's time to slow and stop the horse, well, that didn't go so well, but the horse knew he was supposed to stop and did so as we got to the end of list, where I nearly came out of the saddle as I was unprepared. (Seat belt would have helped.) Apparently my hands did come up when the horse took off but I managed to control the horse and keep him in a canter.
Second pass, I decided to try it with a lance. I got the horse in position, I was handed the lance. I was given the signal, I gave the horse the signal and cantered towards the quintain. I hit the quintain around center and had to ditch the lance to my left (normally you want to ditch the lance to the right) hitting myself in the back, and I stopped the horse in plenty of time. Unfortunately, had I hit a person's shield where I hit the quintain, I might have skidded off the shield and caught them square in the chest, which would have been unpleasant in a theatrical joust.
Third pass, horse lined up, lance in hand, I took off at a canter, targeted the red square on the quintain which is the target area, brought the lance too far to the left and corrected, hit the square dead center, ditched the lance to the right and slowed the horse. Was a great pass. I did exactly what I needed to do. Cheers from everyone. YAY! We decided to give the horse a short break after that.
Funny thing was, the thing I had the hardest time with was getting the horse to walk. He just wanted to stand still (don't blame him). Later I practiced walking the horse with a helm on. Your visibility is severly hampered by the helmet so it's a good idea to get used to it. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more passes next week as well as a few in the helm. I get more excited each week and I think it's possible I could get into one or two jousts this year. We'll see how things go I guess.
Anyway, the last few weeks has been pretty intensive. Some people have asked me if I'm jousting this year. That'd be a bit of a stretch for a guy who had never been on a horse until last year. But I will tell you that my training has come a long way and while I might not actually be jousting, I may have the ability and skills to joust (just won't be very pretty).
I learned one big limitation of my skills, I'm not really prepared for how a horse might begin it's canter, nor that it might actually go a little faster than a canter. As I mentioned, I'd been part of training a back-up horse in the event we needed it. Well, for the first time, I cantered on one of those horses that is already trained. More to the point, I cantered at the quintain on a horse that was already trained. And his take-off was SCARY. Sometimes, he actually rears, and I thought I was going to fall off the back of the horse. So what was my reaction? I tried to pull myself forward by pulling on the reigns. What does that tell the horse? Slow down or stop. DUMBASS! So to get over that bad habit, I started grabbing the saddle with my free hand. While this kept me from pulling on the reigns, it didn't leave me a hand to hold the lance with.
So the next week, I was determined to hold the lance, even if I didn't hit the quintain.
First off, the horse had been through two other jousters (rather, one jouster and a jouster in training) for a combined seven passes. One pass each without a lance, and then four and two passes with a lance respectively. So when I got on the horse, he was a bit sweaty (as it was very hot out) and was a bit tired. (The horse had also been lunged before we starting working since he was "full of piss and vinegar".) So when I got on, he wasn't as gung ho to run quite as fast. But he knows (and seems to enjoy) his job. I did three passes.
First pass, I got on the horse, the horse was in position, I decided to go without a lance, I was given the signal, I gave the horse the signal, he reared ever so slightly, and I cantered from one end of the list to the other. About the time you get to the quintain, it's time to slow and stop the horse, well, that didn't go so well, but the horse knew he was supposed to stop and did so as we got to the end of list, where I nearly came out of the saddle as I was unprepared. (Seat belt would have helped.) Apparently my hands did come up when the horse took off but I managed to control the horse and keep him in a canter.
Second pass, I decided to try it with a lance. I got the horse in position, I was handed the lance. I was given the signal, I gave the horse the signal and cantered towards the quintain. I hit the quintain around center and had to ditch the lance to my left (normally you want to ditch the lance to the right) hitting myself in the back, and I stopped the horse in plenty of time. Unfortunately, had I hit a person's shield where I hit the quintain, I might have skidded off the shield and caught them square in the chest, which would have been unpleasant in a theatrical joust.
Third pass, horse lined up, lance in hand, I took off at a canter, targeted the red square on the quintain which is the target area, brought the lance too far to the left and corrected, hit the square dead center, ditched the lance to the right and slowed the horse. Was a great pass. I did exactly what I needed to do. Cheers from everyone. YAY! We decided to give the horse a short break after that.
Funny thing was, the thing I had the hardest time with was getting the horse to walk. He just wanted to stand still (don't blame him). Later I practiced walking the horse with a helm on. Your visibility is severly hampered by the helmet so it's a good idea to get used to it. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more passes next week as well as a few in the helm. I get more excited each week and I think it's possible I could get into one or two jousts this year. We'll see how things go I guess.
