The Armour Archive

Historical Horsemanship Roundtable

It is a common misconception that the medieval knight was a graceless automoton encased in armour which rendered him inelegant and clumsy. Historical evidence shows that nothing could be further from the truth, and that a beautiful presentation and fine horsemanship was as valued by the medieval rider as much as it would to his Baroque successor.

In this roundtable we will examine the instructions from early manuals which focus on balance, harmony, understanding and partnership between rider and horse. Utilizing a roundtable format and demonstrations by riders in and out of armour, we will explore the art of beautiful riding whilst engaged in medieval equestrian activities such as skill at arms games and jousting.

Leading the roundtable will be Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng. A well known and respected scholar of historical swordsmanship manuals, Jeffrey is currently working on a new translation of 'Bem Cavalgar' (Livro Da Ensinança De Bem Cavalgar Toda Sela (The Art of Riding on Every Saddle), a treatise on horsemanship written by Dom Duarte of Portugal in 1438.

Also leading the roundtable will be Patrice Edwards. Patrice is an internationally acclaimed instructor committed to the classical approach to training, utilizing methods that have been used for centuries.

Demonstrating the techniques in and out of armour will be historical horsemen Dominic Sewell and Jeffrey Hedgecock.

Don't miss this unique opportunity to expand your knowledge of historical horsemanship!

Roundtable will be held at Poway Valley Riders Association, 14336 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway California, Thursday, October 20, 2011 between 4PM and 6PM. This is an audience-participatory interactive discussion with a question and answer/demonstration period.

Historical Horsemanship Roundtable

[quote="Black Swan Designs"]
Leading the roundtable will be Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng. A well known and respected scholar of historical swordsmanship manuals, Jeffrey is currently working on a new translation of 'Bem Cavalgar' (Livro Da Ensinança De Bem Cavalgar Toda Sela (The Art of Riding on Every Saddle), a treatise on horsemanship written by Dom Duarte of Portugal in 1438.

quote]

Impressed that Jeff is working on a new Bem Cavalgar translation, the Portuguese is painful in that one. Likely the dating on the MS is earlier than that, as at one point he references Dom Joao his father as if he were alive, and in another, deceased, so most likely it was written over a span of years, ending early in his reign.
Steve

It's not just the Portuguese that is painful int he CBS edition, the translation completely loses the subtleties of riding. I don't think the translator knew which end of a horse [oh, excuse me 'beast'] poops.

Jeffrey has been conscientious about working with people who actually ride to extract the full meaning of the text, and I can tell you it is VASTLY better than the CBS version. Things are moving along on Jeffrey's version, and I understand it could be published fairly soon.

Gwen

Any chance this will be recorded on video. I really would like to attend but distance will not allow that.

Edward

No promises, but I'm working on it.

Gwen

Did it get recorded? It would be fantastic to even get a glimpse of this.

Is there any info about when the book will be published too?

Best Regards,
Dan.

Re-Making History- The Tournament of the Phoenix DVD

Was released. We did not record the Roundtable, but it went really, really well, and we have plans to do it again next year. Maybe by then I'll be able to sort something out with recording it.

Not sure about the book, but I think Jeffrey mentioned January. Let me see if I can find out more about that.

Gwen

That roundtable sounds fantastic and I'm sorry I only heard about it now. Is there any chance that someone took notes?

It was a "free-form" discussion format, so creating notes would have been pretty tough. We talked about video-ing it, but we wanted to see how it went and if the format worked before we jumped into that.

We plan to do another one next year, so will probably make arrangements to record it in some way, probably with video. If we do one any earlier than next year's Tournament of the Phoenix, we'll make an announcement here and other places too.

Thanks for your interest!