Of Warhorses and Writer's Block

Florida. Sunny Florida. Sunny, green Florida. It was wonderful to escape the cold of Ohio and venture down to Pensacola the last weekend of February. There was really not a lot of excitement down there. It was mostly relaxing, fun...and well, warm.

There were three of us knights: Shane, James Acuff (Lords of Chivalry and honorary member of the Knights of Valour), and myself. None of us had jousted since last fall, including the horses, and we were all pretty rusty. The shows were still good, if I may say so, but the jousting was not at its best. Still, I surprised myself with how comfortable I was in front of the crowd. Especially after my nervous fiascos last season all of you read about. Please do not mistake me, I was not completely at home out there, but it was loads better.

Ah, I forgot, there is something to tell. The king was rather....enthusiastic shall we say...about me being down there. The first show on Saturday he gave me a hard time for being a woman knight jousting. It was annoying, but sometimes that kind of thing helps me joust. You know, I have to prove them wrong. That evening the gentleman who played the king came up to me and made sure there were no hard feelings, said he really liked that I was down there and we chatted a bit. I told him not to worry about it and explained to him that kind of taunting helps me....that was a mistake. Great going, Jessica.
The next day during the show he was trying to be "nice" and help me out by taunting me more. Er, rather, he gave me hell. It was already one of those days that felt off which made his heckling (and bad jokes) worse. My armor felt heavy, my allergies were clogging my throat, I apparently did not stretch sufficiently...and when Katie put my helm on and he said, "Sir Robert (Bob), what happens if Dame Jessica breaks a nail?" I was about ready to run Paladin over to the throne and throttle the king (not one of my best moments, I'll admit ;)). So my focus in jousting shifted from focusing on the joust, to just being angry...which is not good for technique lol. Thankfully I eventually got over my stupidity and the last pass felt great, so all ended on a good one.

I wish I could have taken all of you down there with us to enjoy the sun (and your company). From walking around with Scott at the small, but enjoyable Gulf Coast Renaissance Fair, to eating at a great (though very squished) Irish pub, to jousting on the best jousting horses in the world, to spending time with other awesome people, and everything in between, it was a wonderful time.

Sorry about the short blog. It seemed like there should be more so I kept putting it off and thinking about it, hoping I would come up with more to write that would not bore you...but everything I came up with seemed boring, ha. Oh well. Sometimes less is more.


With love to you all
~Off to the lyst!~

The off season was not so off....

Hello to all of my weary winter readers! With the season about the start up again, I thought it fitting to give an update on how the off season went.

It started off well. The talented Jane Staton came to take pictures of Connie and I in our training back in November. That was fun, but I am sorry to say that Connie's training since has not gone well. Jousting horses are very special and not all horses can be such. While I consider Connie very special, she does not seem to have what it takes to be a jouster. Since I am getting married and moving back to the city anyway, I am looking for a good home for her. She would make an excellent brood mare. Oh yeah, I am getting married. That is probably news to some of you. The off season has not been so off *big smile*.

For now, let's go back to November:

Connie has a very sweet disposition and is smarter than your average draft horse. If for nothing else, because she has learned simple human sign language. She will nod her head if you have something she wants, and will shake her head if she is uncomfortable or unhappy. Unlike some horses where it is hard to tell if something is wrong, Connie makes it easier. I love her to death.

However...

She can be stubborn and strong willed when she chooses to be. This is a great picture of that...and a great picture of my bad form lol. Oh well.

Ah, that's better.

I love this picture. It is so cute! This is one of Jane's little girls. She looks smaller than she is. Remember, Connie is 17.2 hands.

Scritches after a long, hard ride.

The bridle comes off...

...and Connie's favorite part: me rubbing where she sweated underneath her bridle.

Her "I hate you for getting my head wet" face.

Thank you very much for coming out, Jane. It was fun and I hope you had fun as well!

~~~~~~~
On a personal note, I am getting married. He proposed on Christmas Day and I said yes, of course. The wedding is in August (so excited!). For those of you who might worry, he is very supportive and encouraging of my jousting. Truly, I have been blessed with a great guy. And no, I am not wearing armor on my wedding day, haha. I may be what some consider a "tom boy", but I am still rather feminine and wish to wear a dress. A white dress :).

This coming weekend will be the first time I have jousted since the Ohio fair. It should prove interesting. May be really entertaining. My intended, Scott, will be joining me in Florida to do so, and will get to see jousting behind the scenes...and how crazy I really am, haha. Right now I am so nervous! After not jousting for a few months I hope I still have what it takes and more! Ack...
Still, it will be nice to see my jousting family!

I am not sure how often I will be jousting between now and the Ohio fair, but whenever I do I will try and post a blog update to let you guys know how everything goes. Thank you for reading and thank you for all of your support!

~Off to the lyst!~

A very fond farewell...for now!

The last weekend of the Ohio Renaissance Festival for the year 2010. It marked my second year working with the Knights of Valour, my first jousting in the shows, my first as a knight.
None of my drafts describing the tournament at Estes Park, Colorado ever got posted. I wanted them to portray what I felt and was not satisfied with the results. There I was knighted. It meant, it means, more to me than some might have thought. Not just a title, not just an accomplishment - a dream. A dream that became a reality. And to all of those who are making the journey with me: thank you.
~~

So yes, the Columbus Dispatch came, interviewed me, and took photos of my first joust on Saturday. It was pretty cool, but nerve-racking. Before the joust I was constantly reminded of them being there by certain knights and told not to screw up because of my nerves...as well as told stories of how certain  knights screwed up in simple tasks and games just knowing media attention was on them. Did this help me to be calm? Naturally, no. It was extremely strange, let me tell you, to have a photographer from a newspaper out on the field knowing their story was going to be about me. Very, very strange. But they were awesome people and I am glad they came out.

Saturday was a beautiful day at fair. Friends, family, history, jousting...what more could a girl ask for? It started off with some great coffee and conversation from The Viking Wife, as well as some pug love, and ended with Mexican dinner. Jason brought a guy friend along. Apparently I was on a date. Thankfully it was not too awkward and was one of the those nights where it was hard to relax your face because you were laughing and smiling so constantly...and shivering? To my dismay I was feeling sick...

Before I continue, I would like to note something: I have known Kelly Martin, our head squire, for over a year now. I have NEVER seen her laugh as hard as she laughed that night. Not sure what she was laughing about as I was in a different conversation at the time, but it was fun to see her laugh so hard. :)

Anyway, so I was the first one back to the loft after dinner and even with my jacket on and my sleeping bag wrapped tightly around me, I was still shivering violently and my face felt very hot. Grrr, I wanted to joust well Sunday, not be sick! Thankfully two of my awesome brothers-in-arms, Jason and Bob, put a couple more blankets on me when they got in and I finally got some sleep. Sunday morning I was worse, and even after downing cold medicine (courtesty of J and Krysten - Thank you!) and having a cup of Liz's amazing coffee, things were not much better. Now maybe someday I'll be able to be sick and joust well anyway. But that morning I had the crappiest joust I have ever jousted. Shane was helping out the squires and I specifically remember two passes. He told me to keep my targeting true as I was having a bit of trouble with it. I came down to his end of the lyst after he told me this and he said, "No, that's his head." I felt bad for Jason, that he had to be the unfortunate one to joust against me that morning, and I felt bad that I could not rally.
When my helm came off and I dismounted, my spirits were crushed. My last joust of the fair season and it had to be like that? Why?? After signing broken lance pieces I went back to the tackroom, crashed on a couple of armor boxes, and that's where I stayed until the next joust. Thankfully they did not need me to squire in the second joust so I got to rest and watch. I have to say, Charlie and Jason put on a great show. It was the best one I have seen with the two of them jousting each other. Think Charlie won by one broken lance.

 So we were getting ready for the third and last joust. Someone asked Shane who was jousting in the last show. To my surprise, he said Jason, Charlie, and myself were doing the last show. A second chance! A last chance. By this time I was feeling better, just very dizzy (perhaps all of that Dayquil?). Jason and I were to joust first and the winner would go up against Charlie. Shane was to be the Emcee.

Us three knights did not know how the show was going to go other than the aforementioned. So when Shane was dividing up the crowd we were starting to get confused. Was he dividing them in thirds? No. Halves? Yeah, it looked that way...So...how was this going to work? One half was cheering for Charlie, one half for Jason. That's when Shane talked to the ladies of the crowd. They were to cheer for me. I was their champion. Did they think women could joust just as well as the men? Their thunderous cries said yes. Great. No pressure. Now I had to prove something for all of them as well. I knew (and know) that women can joust and joust well. I just had to prove it that day.

So, this was a day for my senior knight and older brother to live up to his titles and try his very hardest to embarass me. Before I gave out my favor he announced to the crowd that I was single, liked long walks on the beach, desperately needed a date, that they could find me on facebook under some ridiculous name, yadda yadda, and challenged any man in the crowd to ask me out...When I chose my favor he made the guy stand on the fence to give me a kiss. Well, Paladin (whom I was riding) was not having any of it and did not want to get that close to the guy (it wasn't my doing, I sware!). So of course, Shane took him by his bridle and led him over. One of things I love about the Knights of Valour is that they have taught me to have a sense of humor again. A few years ago I might have been upset at Shane. Now I just had a lot of fun with it! But enough about that. On to the joust!

Finally, I fell into my zone again. The last joust of the previous weekend everything had clicked and I was so disappointed that it had not as of yet that weekend. But I figured out what drives my zone. This my seem like a no-brainer, but it is not just remembering everything and doing it without thinking, it is having confidence (something everyone has been telling me from the beginning, I know. Easier said than done). I was able to get in my zone against Shane the weekend before because I knew his targeting was truer than anyone. If I came off it was going to be because he took me off, not because I was riding poorly, not because he got in a lucky shot. He was going to hit my grand guard true every time whether I hit him true or not. That gave me the confidence and determination to hit him true every time and to try my hardest to rise to his level.

With Jason that last day, as good as he is, it was not that reasoning that put me in the zone. It was pure determination not to let the women down, not to let my fellow knights down, not to let myself down, and not to let God down. God who has blessed me with all of the amazing opportunities in my life. He who put me in the place I am in now - whom I firmly believe made me to do this.
So I broke every lance - what an amazing feeling- and won. Phew!

It was Charlie's turn. Paladin and I were both anxious to get going as Charlie entered the lyst. BOOM! No break? What? Darn. Next pass. Still no break? Ack! What is up with that? I remember looking up at my unbroken lance and being mad at myself. Meanwhile Charlie is of course breaking his lances. Come on, I can't be that tired. Finally broken a lance, yay! The second to last pass I felt a buff blow (he hit me in my throat guard for those who do not know) which jammed my ill-fitting helm up into my head rather hard. Owe. That hurt. A lot. Because of that blow I am so very, very ashamed of my last pass that day. I flinched. We charged down the lyst and right before we hit each other, I flinched! (Still hit him, but off target.) Argh! I can't believe I did that! Still beating myself up about it. Justinn (an awesome friend and squire) tried to console me by reminding me that I was still fighting sickness. But as sweet as she is, being sick was not an excuse for flinching. *sigh* Oh well. At least I had a good joust against J.

Now I would like to mention that it was an honor to have Erin as our queen. I cannot picture anyone else in the role and you will be greatly missed.  Thank you for your constant support and encouragement. It meant a lot. Thank you to all of you in the cast who cheered me on and supported me!

A very special thank you to Justinn for coming all of the way out from Colorado to help us and hang out. It was so much fun!!
And here is to all of the knights and squires in my life! You have made this journey possible and my life is richer because of you! I wish I could tell all of the stories of how I met each of you, and maybe someday I will, but for now please know that you are so greatly appreciated.

The 2010 Ohio season may have ended, but my journey has just begun. This fall has been an incredible start to it all. What a learning experience! What friendships have been formed!
There is so much more to say about fair - so many events that have gone un-typed. Still, I feel I must end with this for now.
So on to training my mare, Connie. On to training myself for Spring. Here is to the beginning and not the end!
With love I leave you....
~Off to the lyst!~

And then it clicked.

“Do you want to Emcee this weekend?” Shane was asking Bob after his lesson on Friday evening. “It will be Jason and Jessica in the first show. If Jessica beats Jason, then she'll be jousting me in the second show, but if not then she won't. We'll see.” He was well aware that I was standing ten feet away, listening. No pressure.

First joust of the day on Saturday I rode Phantom. He was my partner in Estes Park, Colorado and I was excited to joust on him again. Phantom can be a little high strung some days, but he started out that morning's parade pretty calm. Halfway through the parade, however, he started to get...uh, excited might be a good word for it. Still, it was nothing too bad. But when we got ready to enter the arena, he became overly eager to do his job. The thing about Phantom is that even when he is high strung, he still runs down the jousting lyst well, which is one of the many reasons why I like him. Remember how I said it was going to be a good weekend? Not for one of our squires, Katie. We had won one of the games and I grabbed "gold" (candy) to throw out to my crowd. Phantom unexpectedly turned his butt toward Katie. I was not too worried because Katie is a horsewoman I knew she knew to get out of the way. She would have too...but when phantom turned, as Katie was moving away, he caught the edge of her boot with his hoof, so that as she tried to move away, she twisted and fell on the corner of the wood mounting block...ouch. Sorry Katie. I still feel really bad about that. However Phantom did not feel bad about it. I am convinced if English were going through his head it would be, Let's joust. Let's joust! As evidenced in him not wanting to hold still while waiting for our opponents to come about. Another thing about Phantom is that because he gets so over-eager, we let him “turn and burn”. That means Phantom and I wait where we stopped at the end of the pass until our opponent is set and ready to charge, then Phantom turns and runs down the lyst without stopping to set. Because he is one of the primary horses I ride in heavy armor, I am used to this and can usually counter the g-forces that ensue with such a turn, and then get back in a good position to joust. Well, he did not just turn and burn that morning – he turned and caught on fire! Which made it extremely difficult to keep my balance coming around the turn to head down the lyst lane. Still, I was able to hit Jason most of the time. And it was not just Phantom's fault either. I was still psyching myself out. Coming down the lane, I was not always sure I could do it. You have to be sure. Ergh. 
Thinking that Saturday was my day, it was highly disappointing when not only did I not win that joust, but I had not jousted well either. Mom had come to watch me that day too. I like to call her my good luck charm. Well, I don't believe in luck really anyway. Perhaps prayer warrior is a better term. I was happy to have her there :).

When I don't joust well, it is all I can do not to beg Shane to let me joust again that same day. The next morning seems very far away and I want another chance as soon as possible. I knew it would not be given. Tomorrow was another day.

After getting an awful sleep Saturday night, I found myself getting frustrated and angry easily Sunday morning, but tried to save it for the jousting lyst. This helps more than you might think. A few things were smoothed out by coffee though, and after two large cups and a couple of antacids I was feeling much better.

Finally it was time to joust on Sunday. Phantom and I were partnered up again. He was very calm that day and gave me incredibly smooth gaits (more so than usual, as he always has smooth gaits). We won both of the games that morning - the first time that has happened. Would we win the joust? Yes we would. After all of the times I had jousted Jason, I had not beaten him, until then. Still, I was not happy with the way I had jousted. I was so determined to hit him every pass that I was not focusing on a single point, just a general area. This obviously caused me to hit off target a couple of times and I did not break as many lances as I should have, not to mention my seat could have been better. No, I am not being excessively hard on myself. That's just the way it is. Had it been a tournament I would not have won. Because of this, I was not sure if Shane would count it as the win I needed to advance to the next level, so to speak, and go up against him in the next joust. Apparently no one else was sure either. Honestly, I was afraid to ask Shane because if he said no, I was so tired I was afraid something emotional might come out. You know, like tears. 

When I finally got the courage to ask him, he said it would be him and Jason next show. I must have looked disappointed because he said, “You wanted it, didn't you, Jessica?” Well, yeah, “Didn't you, Jessica?” “Do you want to joust this show?” He kept repeating the question in his annoying older brother way. I wanted to tell him that any opportunity I have to joust, I will take, but every time I started that sentence I could feel an emotional clop in my throat and stopped. Finally I managed a “Sure,” with a steady voice. So he said I could. As eager as I was to joust one last time that weekend, I was not ready for what happened to me.

The second show of the day usually has the largest crowd. This day was no different. Shane was riding one of the young horses, Praetorian, and I was riding Crispin (my other partner from Estes). This show happened to be special because my friend (and a friend of all of the knights and squires there), Shawn, was Emcee that show. He did an awesome job, as usual. But as we were waiting to be called into the arena I was not thinking about Shawn being emcee or about the huge crowd of people. I was thinking, Shane gave me this opportunity, now all I have to do is not screw it up. And as we stood there I was picturing a steady lowering of my lance, it breaking dead center of the gridded grand guard, and bringing what remained of it back up right away. This went through my head over and over again. To help things, I had asked Jason (who was helping the squires that show) to remind me of using my right leg to keep Crispin straight and true down the lyst lane.

However, things did not start out well. The first game was combo, which I am not good at anyway. It was no different this show. Great start...The second game I got to chop an apple off of a friend's (Garret!) head. Hey, I didn't miss. Yay! Hehe. (He did have a helm on, don't worry.)

Then it was time to joust. Even though I was sweating profusely in the heat, once I had my helm on, the oven I turned into went unnoticed. All that mattered was the joust. Center. Target. Timing. Leg. The first pass was a miss for both of us. Praetorian is an unusually fast jousting horse and since he is new, no one is really used to the timing yet. Second pass was a hit, I believe.
Third pass. “Right leg, Jessica, right leg!” Jason shouted and as I came down the lyst, everything clicked. I could kick Crispin with my right leg, while making sure my timing was good and at the same time focus steadily on the center of Shane's gridded grand guard while remembering to keep weight in my left stirrup. Time slowed for me. Even as my contacts blurred from sweat, the target did not waiver. It felt right, smooth. BOOM! Both of our lances shattered into oblivion. Running down again, the same thing happened. Then it happened again. Shane still won, but I had achieved a victory of my own. Everything finally came together. It was so amazing it's hard to describe. I even feel a little sheepish for being so happy about a joust I did not win. With all my heart I hope I can keep this up.

After Crispin and I were done signing broken lance pieces (Okay, so I signed for Crispin ;b), one of our squires, Sam, handed me a rose from the dais. Thanks guys! That was so sweet. It was my favorite kind, too.

Finally, I had a joust I was happy with. Really happy with. That did not even happen at Estes Park. Don't get me wrong, I still could have done better, but the feeling of everything clicking is something I will not forget and will hopefully experience a lot more. After praying and training so hard, it happened. What a wonderful feeling.
Until next time...
Off to the lyst!~

 

Of Power and Roses

This weekend I discovered a few things: First, that my love for the sport of jousting keeps growing strongly, and I'm not sure it will stop any time soon. Second, that the Knights of Valour have not yet realized just how easily I blush and that no, it usually does not mean anything. Third, that I need to remember to look past the fronts people put up to protect themselves. Fourth, that I have stumbled upon a group of incredible group people and that I am very blessed and honored to know all of them.
*
For some reason on Saturday I could not shake off my nerves. And they weren't just normal nerves either. It felt like I had not jousted in ages, or been in front of a crowd in ages, despite it being only last week. But no matter how I tried to calm my nerves, they did not recede.  When it came time for me to joust, even though I was on one of the best jousting horses in the world (Paladin), I was so tense my body was bouncing all over the saddle pass after pass. Perhaps needless to say, I lost the joust that morning.

One of our young horses, Pictorian (sp?), made his jousting show debut later that day and did a fantastic job! I'm very proud of him.

So Sunday comes along and I joust Charlie (the heavy armor world champion) in the first show. That day felt much better and the crowds were much less of a deal for me. I never really expected to win unless there was a horse mishap or something, but I knew that I had to give it my all. But you see, I think of all sorts of things before the joust that completely float out of my head during the joust. Frustratingly, I need more aggression. I get so focused on trying to have decent technique that I forget to put extra force behind my lance. *sigh* It was a decent match, however. Charlie and I had a tip to tip and he unhorsed me on another pass. One pass after getting back on, my right arm armor completely fell off, lol. Did not want to let that stop me from jousting one more pass though. It was fun, even if less than satisfying. One of these days at the Ren fair I will feel like I had everything together, like I did my best. That day, win or lose, will be a very good day.

*Ahem* So I was delivered a flower that afternoon. It was a sweet gesture from some of my admirers apparently, wishing me well in my jousting endeavors. But I did not know who it was from at the time of delivery and was grilled as to who it was and not believed when I denied the knowledge, haha. Apparently my blushing indicated a hidden knowledge. I was sorry to break to the said accusers of just how easily I blush. Those of you who have known me longer know that sometimes I even just turn red randomly lol. Sorry to disappoint.

I cannot speak well enough of The Knights of Valour, The Knights of Mayhem, and all of the squires working for them. It still seems a little surreal that I can even call myself a part of them. Perhaps this euphoria will subside soon and settle into a comfortable rythym of dream following. And maybe I'll start to say less corny things. Doubtful.

~Off to the lyst!~

In the beginning...

Hola! To all of the beautiful people reading this blog. First off, I would like to explain the title. "...Who knows what she muttered in the dark..." is part of a larger paragraph quote from The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I believe it goes something like this:
"My friend," said Gandalf, "you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields, but she, born to the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours...yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff that he leaned on...but who knows what she muttered in the dark, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, the walls of her bower closing in around her...a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?"

Anyway, this blog will be used to update you lovely and curious people about my life as a knight (I was going to type jouster, but I'm a full blown knight now. Still not used to that. It's pretty cool, though.)


Probably the most common question I get asked is, "How did you get into this (jousting)?" So, the simple answer to that is as follows:
In April of 2009 Mom and I went to the Ohio Equine Affair. On the schedule was a talk on jousting to which we were both curious (admittedly I was a wee bit more curious than Mom). There was this tall guy with red hair talking about the history and introducing guys dressed in different styles of armor. Then he introduced this girl that was a squire and was going to train to be a knight. I was like, what?? You can do that?? So I talked to him afterward, found out his name was Shane Adams, he was based in Ohio now, just happened to be the reigning world champion, and my first lesson was August 1st of that same year.
(Looking back, though I did not know them then, that is the first time I saw Amy, TJ, Charlie, Alex, and I think Phantom too.) 

A little over a year later I am a knight. A dame. Cool, huh? There was a time when I was waiting for my Prince Charming, my own "knight in shining armor", when loved just about anything that had ruffles, played with barbies, and someday gosh darn it, I was going to be a princess in a castle. So uh...what happened exactly?
Well, that story is kind of long. But suffice it to say that I really feel I am suppose to joust. That I was made for this. It combines a lot of my interests and passions (horses, history, martial arts)...not to mention there are some pretty cool people in the jousting world.

In my first lesson, when Shane told me I would not be riding with stirrups for a very long time, I knew that this whole becoming-a-knight business would take way more than I expected. I mean, don't you just gallop toward your opponent and hit him with a lance? ;)

The second weekend of August 2010 I put on a heavy suit for the first time. I might still be dreaming about jousting in heavy armor if it weren't for my bro, Marc, who is letting me borrow his suit. I am very thankful for that.
Went to Estes Park, Colorado for an international jousting competition (and my very first tournament) the second weekend of this month and now (as if I wasn't before) I am hooked.

Well, I suppose that will conclude my first post. My following posts will be about the Renaissance fairs and tournaments I attend. Just thought it would be good to give you guys a small introductory.

 Off to the lyst!~