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Jousting ….it’s a participation sport
!!! Imagine two horses galloping towards each other with knights atop each wearing armor weighing 65 to 85 pounds with 12 ft lances pointed at each other. Now that’s what I call a fear factor!!! This is fast becoming a sport once again and is growing in our direction. It is quite popular in Australia, England, Canada, California and the northeast. There is theatrical jousting which we can see at most Renaissance Faires with the exception of a few where the Knights are entertainers with excellent horse skills but do not actually try to intentionally unhorse the other ( at least not with out him knowing about it!) This sport is not for everyone, but would appeal to the horse people who are also thrill seekers and looking for something “different” to do with their horses. Sound interesting? Look no further than in your own backyard of Texas. East Texas that is. You will find Diamond P Equestrian School for Tilting and skill at arms. (Jousting is also known as tilting as it comes from the Knights tilting their lances as they approach their opponent). Located in Longview Texas, a pretty town set in the piney woods, the Diamond P takes you and your horse back in time and trains both of you for jousting or skill at arms, which also means gaming. Gaming was intended to hone the skills of accuracy from atop your mighty steed. Some of these games are the Rings (using your ten ft ring lace galloping toward suspended four inch rings and try to get as many as possible) Spear (using a six ft spear, again galloping, towards another four inch ring attached to usually a bale of hay) the quintain, (a large object that spins with a target set at head level, that you gallop toward with your 12ft jousting lance hit the target as hard as possible and he who gets the thing to spin the most wins!!) and then there is what is called Saracen’s head ( this was the used for improving the targeting of the enemy’s head, now the head is represented by a innocent cabbage head, then goes like this you gallop toward this head, sword in hand and either stick the head or slick the head open, sticking the head on your sword gets you two points while slicing gets you one point, with two heads being in one run of the competition. He who has the most points wins. Many of you who find the thought of someone else running their horse at you with a big stick a little too much to bear can always be involved in gaming. You can still carry weapons and you can do it on your horse. Sounds like fun…want to know where to sign up? Go to the Diamond P website at www.dpeq.com and come check out their performance at the Equine Expo of Texas in Forth Worth on May 6 and 7th. |
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