Back to work this morning after my sojourn to Hamburg.
Morning stables went normally.... as far as normal goes for this place but the morning excersise turned out to be an excersise in futility and after 10 minutes of getting nowhere we pulled off to a safe area and just sat in the saddle and watched the schoolrun and rush hour, letting the horses see what's happening. On one side of the coin it's frustrating as we have to get these horses as fit as racehorces and 3 day eventers, while on the other side of hte coin it is good training as roadwork is quite a large part of the training the horses have to be as well behaved and obedient as possible on the road. This is to a degree discipline training and sometimes it is good to let them see all this traffic and let them take it in and then they will not feel threatened or frightened while on the roads in busy times. There's a number of Youngsters on the yard and this is good training for them.
We have to warn some of the schoolchildren away telling them that the horses will bite them. They look dissapointed but I can't risk being sued. A few years ago we would let the children stroke the horses but with the compensation culture that has come over from America and all the injury lawyers advertising on telly people are all to ready to sue over the slightest thing now if it means money for them.
I think it's very sad that things like that have taken over peoples lives that they trip in the street because they weren't watching where they are going and they get money for it. I dread to think what would happen if one of the horses bit a child, despite the child told to keep away! Anyway.. I ramble away... back to it now.
Donna and Lucy spend the morning practicing equestrian disciplines and "pegging". It is important that they have absolute confidence and trust with their mounts whichever they are on so they spend lots of time practicing verious excersises I set and I'm glad to see that they must have been hard at it while I was away. I have been teaching them all the cavalry techniques and disciplines I was taught and they can now ride round the arena without saddle and standing on the horses back. they can jump without stirrups and saddle and they can also take off the saddle while in canter without dismounting. This is vital on the battle side. There is no time to work with weapons without saddle before their first tournament but this will be addressed in the New Year.
Part of the mounted tournament is "Pig Sticking" where you have to stick a spear in a ground target the shape and size of a pig. You have to do this at full gallop and the target has come and gone quickley at a 40mph! So how do I train the girls do do well in this discipline?
Jump forwards a few hundred years to the Napolionic period where the English Cavalry were known as "The finest horsed, the best trained and the worst led Cavalry in Europe" to a training technique and game that was practiced by the Lancers..... Tent Pegging.
I set a tent peg in the ground and the girls have to spear it with a lance. this takes balance, co-ordination, a steady eye and top teamwork between horse and rider. If they can get the tent peg on the tip of the lance 8 times out of 10 then a larger target will be no problem. start off at walk and work upwards through trot, canter and then finally gallop. In Napolionic times this trained the lancers pin point accuracy with their lances and both ground and mounted targets. The English Cavalry had a fearsome reputation in Spain during this time - especially the lancers.
The afternoon is spend working once more on foot combat and today it is longsword and shield. Thir swordwork has come on in leaps and bounds, but today I add the shield and over the afternoon teach them the defensive techniques. once they've got those quite well off we put armour on and I then teach and show them that the shield has an offensive side too. they spend quite a while picking themselves up off the floor but they have leaned much and we'll do a full on mock tournament tomorrow afternoon with full lance and weapon racks set up. The tournament is next week and the girls are starting to get a bit wound up. so I've decided to see how they do.
Tonight sees me dining with one of my oldest friends. She has been a major support during certain times of my life as I have been to her. It will be great to see her and the phone message was to be ready for 6:30. L is a Consular General for a foreign Government she works near me at the Consulate. At the apointed time there's a horn sounds in the stables and I walk through there in full black tie (tuxedo) and awards pinned on. The girls wolf whistle at me and call out the usual stuff.
"If you're not in bed for ten, come home"
"You got one of those bits of tin that says Target?"
"very smart.... going somewhere?"
I go off to the consulate, taking a bottle of Schnapps and some Chocolate I brought back from Hamburg. L is a great lass and I care for her a great deal... just one thing.... at certain times of the month she makes Ghengis Kahn look like a red cross volunteer. Her personalsecurity detail are former members of the British Special forces and elite regiments and I have been privilidged to see a couple of them during "the time of the month" take their shoes off and creep across the front of her office door before putting them on at the other side and walk on normally as if nothing has happened. She caught a guy deliberatley scratching her brand new Aston Martin during one "time of the month" and it was the man who had to be rescued by her security detail and an ambulance called!
L wields a nasty handbag and has left me dazed and bleeding in the street before now on more than once occasion. The last one was steaming up the ouside of Victoria Secrets shop windowby tring to look through becaus I had been left outside standing there like lemon and the time before that I accidentally held a conversation with har ample chest. Always remember to switch brain on first with this woman!
Anyway. I had a great dinner, enjoyed L's comapny met some French business business people and came home just beore midnight, which means that I didn't turn into a vegetable!
Snap