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Jousting
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Welcome to The Joust!
Here you will find a selection of photos from past years of jousting at the Sands Point Medieval Faire.
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My Wife and I have been jousting since 2002 as part of the MSR jousting team. MSR is short for Medieval Scenarios and Recreations, A historical society based in the NY tristate area that allows members to explore and recreate the middle ages. The organization owns the horses and stables them at Sands Point Preserve. Every September We put on a medieval faire with a jousting show.
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We wear replicas of real armour (not fake costumes). We use solid wood lances with balsa wood inserts. When we joust we are really trying to hit eachother; this is not a choreographed show but a demonstration of an early to mid 15th c. joust. We attempt to re-create the pageantry, skill and excitement of historical jousts.
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As well as training ourselves and our mounts many preparations must be made before we can joust. All the weapons must be maintained, the fence set-up and the horses attended-to.
There are many support people in our ground crew that make it possible for the joust to happen.
During the year the horses must be cared for and exercised. Months prior to the show we train with the horses and get our equipment ready. All are volunteers who devote their time to make this happen. |
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The Sands Point Nature Preserve is the setting for our faire. Here you can see the crowd that has come to see the joust. Behind them is Hempstead House, a gothic stone mansion built at the turn of the century. (and it's just the guest house!)
To the right is the jousting field (Tilt) and opposite of Hempstead House is the Long Island sound. |
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MSR has 3 horses, Siegfried (white percheron), Gunther (belgian), and Barney (belgian). They are draft horses. They do not accurately reflect medieval war horses, however they are impressive, and have easy-going temperments and are what we have to work with.
Here I ride Barney in front of the crowd. |
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As part of our training, and the show, we practice four games of skill: the quintain, the rings, spears, and swordsmanship from horseback.
The quintain is a target mounted on a swinging arm that the rider hits with the lance as they canter by. It is a training exercise to gain practice and aim with the lance.
Here Stacy is about to impact! |
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Here I've just hit the quintain and sent it spinning around.
In the backgound of some of these photos you can see a beautiful view of Long Island Sound. |
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Another game of skill is the rings. We ride down the list and try to lance the rings - 3 per pass. smaller rings are introduced after each pass.
This exercise teaches accuracy, targeting and control of the lance. |
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We also throw spears at a target as we ride by.
This year (2008) we'll have a moving target to throw spears at! |
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Cabbage slicing! In this game of skill we demonstrate swordsmanship from horseback.
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A cabbage about to lose it's top!
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All of these games of skill culminate in the joust.
After a quick break, we don our helmets and shields and ready the horses for the joust. |
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We make a pass and Stacy makes a hit!
Our lances are made of pine with a vamplate to protect the hand. At the business end is a socket for a 3 foot balsa wood insert. The balsa is scored or cut so that when we strike it will shatter. At the very end is a 3 pronged coronel made of rubber. Historically the coronel was made of steel and acted to grab on to it's target so the knight could break his lance. Coronels were used for jousts of peace; Spear points were used for jousts of war. |
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A great shot of the moment of impact!
Many of these photos were taken by Jim Robertson. Thank you Jim! You can view more of his photography at Pbase. Also Thank you to Rich Leonard, who has also come out to photograph us.
Stacy has no qualms about hitting people. By the end of the 2005 shows all of the shields were broken into pieces!
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2006 -- Stacy blasts me with her lance!
Our jousts are not choreographed; we strive to break as many lances as we can for the enjoyment of the crowd. A joust takes great skill; in horsemanship, in the handling of the lance and the mastery of ones fears. Anything can happen at a Joust. A rider could be knocked off! The horses could refuse to run! Or a lance could penetrate a shield! -- These all make it an exciting sport. |
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In the Fall of 2005 a scored balsa lance punctured my shield! As I came to the end of my pass, I had worried ground crew asking me if I was OK. The shield was made of half inch plywood.
This is why we wear full plate armour. This also shows some of the dangers involved in jousting. |
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After the joust Stacy introduces her mount to the crowd and answers questions to an inquisitive public.
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A Medieval saddle, based on the remenants of the Henry V saddle. After some modification, it saw use last year (2006). The seat is a little on the hard side, but it offered a secure riding platform. My groin was protected by the high pommel from low lance strikes and the high cantle kept me secure from being knocked off the back.
I've slowly been tinkering with this saddle and now find it extremely comfortable and perfect for jousting.
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The second medieval saddle that I began at the end of last summer. After playing around with different seat configurations, I decided to make a seat of canvas stuffed with hay-- just as in the original.
Much to my surprise the seat was fantastic! The hay had just enough give to make it comfortable, -- and over time it would conform to the riders' bottom. And it had enough solidity to support the rider. Not for everyone, or for every use. This saddle forces the rider to ride almost standing in a two point position. |
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Over the years I have tried to make the joust better and more historically accurate. First with armour, and shields, and later with the making of medieval saddles. We have also worked on improving horsemanship and training techniques to make our joust safer and a display of impressive horsemanship. We have sought to explore history and bring it alive in a balanced way that people can understand. It hasn't always been easy, but I think we have made some real progress.
I hope that our program continues to grow and will give people a sense of what jousting and knights were really like.
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Goodbye for now!
Hopefully we'll see you at This year's show.
If you would like to know more or would like to know how you can get involved you can e-mail me at Jeff at Wassonartistry.com |
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