Practicing

The weekend before last we finally got a time when some new friends from the SCA could come over and bring some of their games equipment and we could practice. Since this was outside the official SCA boundaries, Carol suggested we invite some of our riders to join us and try it out. Ginger talked to her camp councelors and 4 of them decided to join us.

Other than being hotter than blazes, the afternoon was fabulous!

Carol and Dan brought out their Heads Stands - 5 foot tall stands upon which sit heavy plastic jugs. You weave in and out between the heads, knocking them off with a sword, then go back to the starting point - in the same gait in which you did the heads.



Carol went first - she and Ziggy are veterans of these games and it was really nice to have them come out and share their knowledge and tips with all of us. She was practicing that day riding in her Arab saddle - the gorgeous blue fabric saddle.





Everone had quite a few turns. Since it was brand new to most of our horses out there, as well as the people, we took extra time to introduce everyone. Horses can get pretty skittish when you start swinging things around them, and on top of that making the heads fall off of their stands. But all of our horses and riders did it like pros!












We later brought out 3 more stands and set them up staggered with the heads stands - and set up "Reeds". These are small sections of dowels - 1/2 inch diameter and stand from 2" to 12" tall. For this event you proceed down between the two lines of reeds, and have to swing your sword on both sides. This is particularly exciting because they really come up fast and you have to get into a good rhythem. Unfortunately we didn't get ANY pictures of the reeds - LOL. We must have been having too good a time.

We finished with ring jousting. I had fashioned the first 2 of my ring stands. I didn't know how well they were going to work so I only had 2 of them together. Now I have 4 and it would have been nice to have more that day, but oh well.

My stands are made out of PVC Conduit, stand 7 feet tall, and have 2 magnets at each end of the T. Very simple to construct - though I'm not convinced the magnets are strong enough. None of the rings came off just from the breeze, but still, it would be easier to re-set the rings if the magnets were stronger.

First, again, was just getting used to carrying the lances. Dan told me this position is called a Calvary Rest - where you let the lance rest on your toe. Alternatively you can also carry it resting on your thigh.



Then -- a whole bunch of walking, and eventually trotting down one side, turn and come back on the other side. It's really much harder than it looks - you've got 5-6 feet of lance out in front of your hand, and are trying to aim it wilst on the back of a moving horse at rather small targets.

Bambi and Brooke:








Jordan and Me:








Legend and Kaylee








Rio and Joanie








Romeo and Taylor:








Ziggy and Carol:




And, just because someone else asked me how Jordan's tail was braided that day, I have this pic. For those of you who really want to gaze at my horse's ass. LOL Fridays of course are horse show day at camp, so over the weekend the horses are usually still braided up. This camper did an especially nice job.





THIS JUST IN

LMAO - talking about decorated horse-butts, this picture just came in from last week's camp. I couldn't resist pairing it up with Jordan above.