Interested in Roman Riding?

[garrelt]

Moi

Not a single buckle used on the saddle and the other straps.
In fact there are also no buckles on my personal bridle.
The bridle on the horse came with the horse.

This saddle is version 1 after a saddle that I borrowed from a German friend of mine after a filmshoot for ZDF TerraX(German television) in 2005.
During riding in the woods I even made low , about 50cm high, jumps using his saddle.
Well sometimes you have jump over a log or fallen tree that blocks the path.
I'm working on a saddle version 2.0, might be ready before the start of season 2012.

[jvrjenivs]

This weekend we did attend a professional photoshoot with our horses. Gerard Zoethout (Gemina project) kindly made some 'behind the scenes' pictures. Please see our new kit for a late Roman horse archer and my clibinarius kit in progress. We have to make the rest of the cover for the horse, bigger thigh guards, and manicae. Hope you like them. The horse archer is Daniel Peters, also on RAT.

[Robert]

Great show, Jurjen! We need a word on the fletching of your arrows, though :grin: The horses look stuffed, sure these were the real thing? (this should really get Olga's goat) :lol:

Question: Does the horse not require frontal armour, as one would expect grief to gome from mainly the front when riding towards the enemy?

[Robert Vermaat]

Hope you like them.

Absolutely! You and Daniel look great.

[jvrjenivs]

Question: Does the horse not require frontal armour, as one would expect grief to gome from mainly the front when riding towards the enemy?

That will be my winter head-ache (as I already suggested in the intro to the pictures :p

[Robert]

Ahh, that is what you meant with the cover for the horse, the frontal armour. Well, it is a long winter, only autumn still, so in spring, you should have full cover :wink:

[BlackLamb]

Great show, Jurjen! We need a word on the fletching of your arrows, though The horses look stuffed, sure these were the real thing? (this should really get Olga's goat)

F*** you Robert :mrgreen:

I love the pictures Gerard Zoethout made! The horse Banana was really in her element in front of the camera. Jurjen ,Daniel en Juan did a great job!!

[Robert]

Hahahaha! Just kidding, you know I really love your well behaved horses, I may even want to try to sit on one of yours someday (conquering my fears)

[Virilis]

Wonderful pics!!! Including the group-photos of Comitatus which I haven`t seen before hock: !!!

[John Conyard]

I think small stuffed radio controlled horses on wheels may be the way of the future.

Lots of nice 3rd, 4th and even 5th century kit on display. Catherine says the Berkasovo 2 is her favourite, and an AD 314 -325 deposition date means the helmet can go with the mid third century Dura items. Good call not to wear a padded subarmalis. Keep working on the saddle! We may try and make a Roman pad saddle when and if orders dry up for wooden framed saddles. I have two Scythian pad saddles to make over the next few weeks.

But what is the problem with the thigh guards? When you boil the squares of leather to harden them they will shrink roughly by a third. I can adjust the size of mine by using the internal lacing. Mine tend to grow and lengthen each season with wear, but the slack can be taken up by the lacing system. They are illustrated on page 4 of http://comitatus.net/galleryarmour.html

Virilis, we posted up an article on last summer’s shows here.
http://comitatus.net/cavalrypart5.html
I think there will be more of the same next year, plus some Greek and Hellenistic stuff.

[agrimensor]

very nice Jurjen and Daniel.

[Vindex]

Most impressive Jurjen and Daniel.

[Evgeny]

Started to do the reconstruction of the Roman saddle. Unfortunately in Russia is not to buy the Roman cavalry equipment.

[Vindex]

If you intend to put this on a horse's back and then add your own weight (plus wearing armour and weapons) I sincerely hope you intend adding a SIGNIFICANT amount of padding for the horse's back and shoulders. That said, even the person (who's name escapes me) who did most of the riding in Peter Connolly's design (from which this is a derivitive) said that the need for so much padding made the saddle very unstable.

As most know, I am not a fan of the wooden tree theory; Connolly's only evidence is stretch marks on a leather saddle cover. The single piece of wooden evidence from Carlisle could be from anything.

I'm sorry, but I really do wince when I see these items of torture destined for some poor horse

[Evgeny]

basis of this saddle is copied from the old Cossack saddle. all shops and propportsii clearly reconciled. And the Cossacks were in the saddle for days and very cherished and valued their horses.