Interested in Roman Riding?

[Robert]

Ha, wait till you see the camera footage of the chase through the woods. The horses did there very best to catch the camera car. Much looking forward to the release of the Phalera Filmworks trailer.

It seems Roman riding is going to new heights all the time, with you lot and Jurjen/Olga's equippe.

[John Conyard]

Others will want to follow, hopefully aiming to improve the standard rather than just trying to copy it. And not just in terms of improved kit and equipment.

The pictures on this thread are always excellent, but the photos don't get over the quality of the horses or the riding. Our new stables and horses have allowed us to massively improve our shows, and I hope we can post up some video footage in the near future.

So hopefully we will see even better equipment, and even better riding in the future.

[jvrjenivs]

Others will want to follow, hopefully aiming to improve the standard rather than just trying to copy it. And not just in terms of improved kit and equipment.

Well, as long as they can improve faster than we'll going to improve our own equipment over the next couple of months, that's fine. Otherwise, I wish them good luck :p

The pictures on this thread are always excellent, but the photos don't get other the quality of the horses or the riding. Our new stables and horses have allowed us to massively improve our shows, and I hope we can post up some video footage in the near future.

Well, as Robert said, these pictures were taken during a filmshoot for a small documentary about the life of a gladiator (a.k.a. me) so there now is some film material of our riders. However, it may take some time before we can release this.

Well, let's all keep up the good work, and as long as we all continue to learn and improve it will be just cool! (and I hate I didn't ride this time myself )

[agrimensor]

I can only comment on robert and Jurjen it looked like as if it was 2000 years ago. i also witnessed the chase. it was awsome. as the rest of the picture will be to (I'm in it to :wink: ) keep up the good work.

[BlackLamb]

It was great fun this weekend!!

The horses did a wonderful job i don't know any better ridden or trained and brave hearted horses than mine. And now we used only 2 of them ,wait till you meet the other 15 !!!
They are all learned to react on neck pressure, so there's no need to use heavy bridle bits or tie-downs. ( unless the bit is 100 % authentic, but in this topic i have not seen many of those 8) )

There's always room for improvement at all fronts.
And it would be arrogant to say that is a lie.
At least i can say that i'm honnest to my horses and seeing them as my partners and not as a stage prop.

[Robert Vermaat]

i also witnessed the chase. it was awsome. as the rest of the picture will be to (I'm in it to :wink: ) keep up the good work.

Did anyone take pictures of the chase?

It was great fun this weekend!!
[..]
At least i can say that i'm honest to my horses and seeing them as my partners and not as a stage prop.

Nice to see you again Olga, I'll be coming to your ranch in 2 weeks.
Btw, I know how much you love your horses, but I don't think anyone in this thread uses their horses as a stage prop! hock:

[John Conyard]

Hi Olga,

Your pride in your horses stands out. I certainly hope you'll be buying another 15 Roman saddles for your other horses Coupled with Jurjen's Roman expertise you will have great Roman cavalry. Hopefully one day Comitatus will have to opportunity to ride with you.

Please do not mistake me. I am not saying other groups will go to the trouble and expense of Roman riding and do it better than us. A combination of excellent equipment, experience and know how will I am sure help us to set the standard for many years to come. I too hate to see cheap readily available equipment often of poor quality sat on a horse used as a "stage prop". There is little point in that.

But I did start this thread to give people encourage to ride a Romans. Roman riding should not be seen as expensive or elitist, but open to all. Saddles are readily available, and it is not so hard to obtain good quality equipment. Riding is enjoyable and keeps you mentally and physically fit. Riding as a Roman poses challenges that make equipment fit for purpose, not just a fancy dress. Riding as a Roman is a very positive activity to encourage, and enables people to "live the dream".

Over the past few years I am aware that more and more groups want to field their own Roman cavalry. But the quality of equipment is often very average or even worse. I hope the photos on this thread encourage people to ride as Romans "properly", with good quality equipment, displaying the skills of the Roman cavalry - just like Jurjen. I hope he can make it over to another Comitatus cavalry show this summer. And I hope we can all have a good time doing it.

[BlackLamb]

hmmm I do not agree ...
I see pictures of horses with open mouths while riding and bad back use by ill fitting saddles ...
Another reason that I have to replace ours as soon as possible.

But for someone without horse sense the footage seems cool and great...

[BlackLamb]

John i'm happy with your post!
And i think (i hope) we both agree that the horse it's comfort will be at first place....

[Robert]

The horses were indeed really excellent. Very docile and well behaved hard working horses (and riders). Patient beyond belief during the take of several scenes, having to go back each time, long time standing in the hot sun but totally keeping their cool. They could even have gotten me to sit on one of those horses (someday ... :wink: )And having a good stable like Olga's to care for them certainly helps.

[jvrjenivs]

What are you saying Robert? Do you really mean we get closer to convincing you that you need a nice photo of yourself on horseback? Well, that will make my day!

[Robert]

Well.... these were VERY nice, well behaved horses. So yes, perhaps, maybe, someday, if it helps the park.

[jvrjenivs]

Well, to be honest, I think Olga did a wonderful job last Saterday. She is not yet used to heavy helmets, and this was (apart from some short 'testing') the first time she was using that facemask helmet. As it was filming this means she had it 2 hot hours long on her head and had to do gallop after gallop. I'm used to these helmets, but I'm not sure I would have done as fine. At least 2 hours seems to be a good introduction to using masked helmets

Once more I'm convinced these are combat helmets for sure!

Anyway, I now have to get making more saddles as this got some more people interested and we need new and better ones. Anyway, much more to come in due course. First I've to do some more work on the cataphract horse armour from Dura and 1st century harnass fittings.

[Vindex]

At least i can say that i'm honnest to my horses and seeing them as my partners and not as a stage prop.

A very praiseworthy sentiment!

I think the photographs are excellent and look forward to seeing any footage as/when it becomes available.

I am doing some work on authentic bits and hope to be able to share it with you all soon.

[John Conyard]

Photos from Chillingham are up on our website and the cavalry element can be viewed at

http://comitatus.net/gallerychillingham11.html

As ever we have hundreds of photos and some of them make me smile for lots of different reasons.

It certainly takes time to get the equipment working well on the rider, and even more time to get the kit working correctly on the horse. When I started it seemed to take months for it to come together. I remember the first time getting seven horses and riders ready for the arena, and it taking over an hour. But the more shows you do the faster and easier it becomes.

I was a great treat at Chillingham to ride in one of my own saddles on a great little horse in a practice session. Currently I am still using my old saddle.