Interested in Roman Riding?

[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.