Jousting Practice

Jousting isn't as easy as jumping on your horse and running a few rings onto the tip of your lance. You have to be one with your horse. A skiddish horse doesn't belong on a jousting course. There is a loud speaker, crowds that are noisy, small children doing all the lovely and not so quiet things that children do, and other horses everywhere. The horse knows they've landed in a Medieval sport by all the dragons around them. I'm sure they think that, at first.

Molly had to be walked and then run through the arches a few times to get her used to them. She also had to get used to the lance. To a horse who had been abused prior to living on our farm, the lance looks like a broom  that nasty folks use on the poor creatures out of anger. D3 gently rubbed the lance all over Molly. She took about fifteen minutes to do this for the first time, even before mounting the horse. The Molly had to have the lance gently stroke her, while once again being reassured with comforting words of the young girl she trusts.

Then Molly was ready to walk through the arches while D3 tried to spear the rings. Molly was a good girl for D3. The practice went well. Please notice the leaves painted on the lance.

Molly practice walking under the arches.

Molly gets a smooch after having the lance rubbed all over her head, face, and body. Maybe she

was admiring my paint job once she was no longer scared of the lance.

Just to the right of D3's head, you can see a dark colored metal bar that has a hook at the bottom

to clip each ring on. The beginner rings are about the size of a quarter. As the competition classes

get closer to the professional class, the ring size shrinks. The pros go for something about the size of a penny!

These fun little "shields" decorated the tournament field.

"He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

*** Stop by tomorrow to see my blog post about the jousting tournament D3 competed in.