06-02-2007, 05:52 PM
Hi all, sorry for not posting in a while, i've been fairly busy.
I've been wanting to give Roman riding a go for a while now, and today I finally did it. A couple of months ago I was PM'ed by John Conyard (A member of RAT, and Comitatus) asking whether i'd be intrested in giving Roman riding a go, I (obviously ) was delighted and said yes.
Today was the next training session (Comitatus' cavalry train at Claire Chamberlains full tilt yard in Yorkshire www.thetiltrail.com ) and I went along. I was a bit unsure of exactly what it would be like, and if I would terrible or not, but once I was on the horse I felt great. I was riding in a Portugese saddle most of the time, here's a picture. It was a bit odd at first (having only ridden in an English saddle before) but I soon got used to it, and after 10 minutes or so I was fairly confident at cantering etc. Next (after a warmup) was to have a go with some missile weapons, here is a picture of some of the kit we used.
I tried wearing a mail shirt for a while, but in the end it was digging into my neck, so I took it off, so now I was just in my normal riding gear. I had a go at javelin throwing, I wasn't very sucsessful, as I kept throwing short, but it was fun all the same. next for something that turned out to be a bit more of my thing, (though I still wasn't very good!) horse archery. I don't have any kit of my own at the minute so I borrowed a bow (I think it was John's) here's a picture of me with the bow, it looks a bit odd as I don't have any other period kit on though. I managed to hit the target, which was Matt (well, his shield with him behind it), also of Comitatus. This was extremely fun as when you release the arrow you have no reins, and no stirrups!
Next was for some hand to hand stuff. With Matt as the target again, we were attacking him (his shield atleast) with all manner of weapons, mainly swords but there were also spears, and some sort of mace (not quite sure what it was). After this some of us had a go with a Kontos (I don't think I could even hold the thing let alone attack anything with it!) which was very impressive.
This was pretty much it, but there was one last thing, the roman saddle. A few of us had a go, (me included P ) there is also a picture of this.
That rounded off a great day for me, and i'm absolutely shattered! I just thought i'd share my first experiance of riding roman style with you all
I've been wanting to give Roman riding a go for a while now, and today I finally did it. A couple of months ago I was PM'ed by John Conyard (A member of RAT, and Comitatus) asking whether i'd be intrested in giving Roman riding a go, I (obviously ) was delighted and said yes.
Today was the next training session (Comitatus' cavalry train at Claire Chamberlains full tilt yard in Yorkshire www.thetiltrail.com ) and I went along. I was a bit unsure of exactly what it would be like, and if I would terrible or not, but once I was on the horse I felt great. I was riding in a Portugese saddle most of the time, here's a picture. It was a bit odd at first (having only ridden in an English saddle before) but I soon got used to it, and after 10 minutes or so I was fairly confident at cantering etc. Next (after a warmup) was to have a go with some missile weapons, here is a picture of some of the kit we used.
I tried wearing a mail shirt for a while, but in the end it was digging into my neck, so I took it off, so now I was just in my normal riding gear. I had a go at javelin throwing, I wasn't very sucsessful, as I kept throwing short, but it was fun all the same. next for something that turned out to be a bit more of my thing, (though I still wasn't very good!) horse archery. I don't have any kit of my own at the minute so I borrowed a bow (I think it was John's) here's a picture of me with the bow, it looks a bit odd as I don't have any other period kit on though. I managed to hit the target, which was Matt (well, his shield with him behind it), also of Comitatus. This was extremely fun as when you release the arrow you have no reins, and no stirrups!
Next was for some hand to hand stuff. With Matt as the target again, we were attacking him (his shield atleast) with all manner of weapons, mainly swords but there were also spears, and some sort of mace (not quite sure what it was). After this some of us had a go with a Kontos (I don't think I could even hold the thing let alone attack anything with it!) which was very impressive.
This was pretty much it, but there was one last thing, the roman saddle. A few of us had a go, (me included P ) there is also a picture of this.
That rounded off a great day for me, and i'm absolutely shattered! I just thought i'd share my first experiance of riding roman style with you all
Dave Bell/Secvndvs
Comitatus
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.comitatus.net">www.comitatus.net
Comitatus
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.comitatus.net">www.comitatus.net