Academy da Cavalaria

One of the really fun things about our community is that we all belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism. For us, the SCA is about learning and studying medieval history. It is also about having lots of fun. Hence the Academy da Cavalaria.

Academy da Cavalaria is a way for us to learn about and express medeival horsemanship. We play medeival horse games such as Ring Tilting and Quintain. This is something both we and our horses enjoy very much.

So last Saturday we (we being Willa and I) dragged ourselves out of bed and tried to get ready in the morning so we could hold our "Academy". Well, the hoses were still frozen (to water the arena) and even coffee didn't seem to help us to move any faster. But eventually we got up and dressed and started setting up the games we had planned for the day.

Our "gaming" horses, Autumn, Dillon, Mercedes, Storm, and Scotch all lined up against the fence and watched as we put up the games. They enjoy playing the games very much and were excited to see us preparing for the day. Eventually Michelle showed up and then Danielle and we got the horses out that we would use for the day and got them all decked out and saddled up.

Decked out means that we put the beautiful horse bardings on them that we have made for them. You know, like they did in the middle ages. I made a bridle for Autumn based on a picture of a statue of Justinian on a horse during Byzantium. I tried it out on Mercedes, but she decided she really didn't like it. So back to her trusty english bridle with the full cheek snaffle bit.

Horses can be picky.

Speaking of picky--Danielle rode Storm--who used to be Mouse. She is an "old" ranch quarter horse who started out as a barrel racer. She also started out with the name of Mouse. But we knew she really didn't like that name and so upon the advice of a pet behavioralist we tried her out on Storm. And she really loves that name! So Storm it is. And really, she isn't a Mouse at all, but a truly spirited lovely riding horse. Oftentimes because her trot is so smooth, we put beginner riders on her. And she carries them beautifully.

Back to the Academy. The first thing Yasaamiin and Danielle did was the game of Mounted Crest Combat. With what we call "boffer" swords--that is foam padded swords. Using converted fencing masks with "crests" velcroed on the top--the object of the game is to use horsemanship and swordsmanship skills to be the first one to swipe the crest off the top of the opponent's helm.

It's really quite a fun game!

Yasaamiin usually beats me. But I did get at least one swipe in, which means I'm getting better with practice.

After that we trained for a bit on the Quintain--which is the target training for jousting--so you use a very long lance. I rode Dillon first and then switched over to Mercedes to give her a bit of practice. Yasaamiin rode Hudson and then rode Scotch.

All in all, it was a very fun day!