I would do this in a privite email to one of you guys, but my email is down.
What make and model are the swords you guys have? The reason I ask is that I will probobly be coming up with one of Albion's conquest period swords in the next month or so and would like to not produce a duplicate within the group.

Andrew;

Right, Ed is into Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" stuff... I've talked with some other guys in that area about putting to gether a unit of same, but since I moved North, I'm out of the loop.

Per Hastings, my riding pard Henrik Olsgaard has been working on me to go with him next year, and got me on one of the e-lists. But what with paying off the house and all, it's kind of iffy for now. But I'm working on it! IT would be TOO COOL to have a good core of hardened Cavalry reenactors to actually make that mounted group look like they know what in the heck they're doing, as opposed to what I saw in the video's from last time...

Cheers!

Gordon

Gordon

Jesse,

I've read comments from jousters who've gone abroad and used unfamiliar horses and I find you comments interesting as well. I'm assuming that there's a need for training and familiarization with the horse in order for it to function properly in this kind of environment, as there was during the actual time period. What are some of the issues you face when using a "rental" in this context? What kind of qualities do you look for in your own horses? Are there certain qualities of spirit and temperament you look for when you're trying to find a horse that's willing to charge a shield wall, or accept an armoured rider on it's back? Are there certain breeds that work better than others? Is there any way to quickly determine these qualities in an unfamiliar 'off the rack' mount?

I'm not bringing anyone's ability into question here. What I'm doing is expressing an interest in a part of this hobby that I'm completely ignorant about.

Patrick;

What Jesse is speaking of is what I was referring too. My friend who attended showed me some video's of the action, and it was pretty hodge-podge by my lights. I think (and this is my opinion from watching a video, rather than being in the saddle with them, keep in mind) that the problems are manifold. I'll elaborate:

1.) Having to use rental horses which are used to doing trail rides, and with no experience in any form of manoeuver,

2.) Having little or no time to work with said horses to pull them together into a "herd" in order to let them work together,

3.) Having little or no time to work with said horses against a shield wall, to get them used to the idea of riding up to it,

4.) Having to use (rental) horses which are used to the snaffle bit and "English" riding, and not at all used to neck reining, which is absolutely necessary for the proper deployment of weapons in the right hand,

5.) Having little or no time to work with said horses with shields, swords and lances.

6.) Having little or no time to work with said horses in any sort of drill,

7.) Having a majority of riders who have little or no experience in proper Cavalry drill.

8.) Lack of a centralized command structure for the Cavalry.

These are just things I noticed and remember in the moment.

I'm not saying that this makes the situation impossible, but it certainly adds a LOT of challenges to the situation, even for a top-drawer rider and Cavalryman. Going as a "unit" would definitely improve some of these challenges, and having the same horse for the run of the event would probably help a lot too.

I didn't get the impression that there was a "Cavalry Commander" per se, who was there to enforce cohesion and discipline on the Cavalry contingent. There may well have been, but I didn't get that impression from either the discussions with my friend, or from watching the video. It wasn't quite a cluster, but it was close. Granted, I've seen worse in ACW events, though!

Again, these are all my opinions gained from conversations with a participant, and a watching of private video tapes of the event. I could well be mistaken in any of these particulars, but I think I have it pretty well nailed.

Please know that I'm not trying to pound on the event, I think it's a VERY cool notion, and I hope that I'll be able to attend the next one. I'm just being particularly blunt about the shortcomings I noticed in my specific area of expertise, in the hopes that perhaps some of them at least can be rectified. Many aspects of course cannot be improved much (such as the rental horse situation, other than in having at least a day of drill before hand to get things in some sort of order).

Cheers!

Gordon