[Vision Films fanfare]
Downloaded from YTS.MX
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[Proud Peasant plays "The Avatar"]
[music fades]
[crack of lance breaking]
[crowd cheers]
[Be Still the Earth plays "Between Worlds"]
[armor clanking]
- Hey we're doing this. Let's line up. It's gettin' time.
[trumpets playing medieval fanfare]
[music fades]
My name is Dave Schade.
I've been a professional jouster for 25 years
and I've been the general manager of the New Riders
of the Golden Age for about 22 of those years.
I've been a horseman as long as I've been jousting.
So everything I learned about horses came from jousting.
I'm a giant nerd. I, you know, enjoy Doug Fairbanks movies
and fight choreography and Three Musketeers
and all, you know, all things history.
I saw this team perform at a renaissance festival in
Florida, was enamored by the fact that they jousted for
real, which my nerd self was squealing with delight.
Some years later I was working a show
in Ohio as a character.
They were jousting there and one thing led to another
and I started working for that company.
I am an anomaly in our company.
Most people that train take about a year
before they're joust ready.
I was jousting in five and a half weeks.
I don't know if that's because I was too stupid
to know any better if the company was desperate
or maybe I had just enough talent not to kill anybody.
- Did you guys put the horses back in their homes?
- Oh yeah.
- Thank you.
- So you've been living the horse life for a long time.
- Yeah, yeah I have. When I started, you know,
as a reenactment nerd and, and of course I saw real jousting
'cause the first time I started riding
it just made sense.
And I became superbly interested in the technical acumen
about how to ride a horse well.
And then all of a sudden it switched.
It was about the horses as much
as it was about doing the shows and the joust and,
and all that kind of stuff.
So, you know, I never touched horses before in my life
until I turned 21 and joined this company.
So everything I started to learn was from here.
And thankfully I got very lucky
'cause the guy that runs this company is a very
knowledgeable horse-person.
So, because of him, it allowed me to go
to other really talented trainers and not embarrass myself
and have them take me on.
So I really got a lot of, lot of good influences in my life
as far as the people I've
gotten to train under over the years.
- Do some jogging, now, going to your right
[blacksmith hammering in background]
[horse snorts]
- That's probably the best departure I've ever seen
you do on that horse...
So yeah, I'd get off
[rider laughs]
- Just a really nice lift and roll into it.
- She was very quiet
because you were also directing her
letting her know where to travel to.
[horse snorts]
It's training people to ride horses if they just wanna
learn how to ride a horse, you know,
you're just trying to build their confidence.
You're trying to help them develop a communicative
skillset with that horse
uh, the confidence to be that horse's leader
when you're adding the layer of jousting, they need to have
that ability with the horses to begin with.
But then now you have to add armor,
confidence in the armor.
When you're wearing a helmet, you have to deal with the fact
that your breathing is severely limited,
your vision is severely limited
and you are now dealing with more feel than sight.
So they have to kind of go through that crucible.
And then the next crucible is somebody actually is coming
to hit you with something and they have to
kind of, figure out can they navigate that?
How do they feel about it? That sort of thing.
[armor clanking]
[horse hooves softly galloping]
[lance striking quintain]
Introducing to the new kids, to the wonderful world
of stupidity that we exist within.
You know, they've been practicing
you know, learning how to aim,
learning how to work their horse in the list.
They've hit the hard quintain, which provides a little bit
of resistance, get an idea of
what it's like crashing into something else.
They've passed each other without making contact.
Today we're gonna line them up and let 'em get contact now.
I'm armoring up my horse just as a precaution,
you know,
they've been fairly steady, but
because they're new, the possibility
for mistakes, on their end, is greater.
So I'm just putting armor on my horse so that way,
you know, we-we wear it...
It-it's definitely a nice addition.
It's a showpiece, but functional as well.
So this way she's got at least the minimum amount
of protection of the just in case scenario, you know,
'cause there there are so many variables.
That was my first unhorsing, first couple
of live passes and uh...
loud, full of sand...
A little bit like being in a small car wreck, but not bad.
- The lance impact doesn't hurt.
- Yeah?
- Hitting the ground hurts.
- The lance impact is not that bad.
We do the best we can to mitigate all of them and,
and make this as reasonably safe as possible.
But the second you start getting too relaxed
and too comfortable
is the second that, you know,
an unnecessary accident can occur.
[lance striking armor]
[man cheers and claps off-screen]
Doing this without an audience or a live show
takes the pressure of the show off.
So each pass that occurs, we can talk to 'em,
"Hey, you're doing this, you're doing that.
Do this, do that."
Or if it looks like it's getting unsafe "okay, we're done".
- Workin' on it
- So much stan.
- Yeah!
[a few people cheer off-screen]
- Your ego's talking
- That's right.
My ego needs to pick on everybody smaller than me
and brand new to feel like I'm awesome.
[swords and shields clanking]
- Jesus! Its practice, Hannah! it's just practice!
[small off camera group laughs and moans]
- Now that you've crossed this bridge
you've earned a Friday to
not have to armor up, if you so choose.
Go get out of your stuff.
- Thank you.
- And those two are like, "what in the hell?"
[laughter]
- For me...
I just have a history with theater
and like I always loved stage combat and more rough
and tumble parts of performance.
When I worked with haunts, like haunted houses,
I got up on stilts, I did the stuff on the wires.
So I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
[heavy breathing]
I love animals and the thing that actually inspired me
to do it was a completely different joust company
I had never seen a joust was about 32 years old.
And I finally got a day off at this vendor
that I was working with at the
Muskogee Renaissance Festival.
And I saw a woman joust
and as a trans woman myself, suddenly everything clicked.
Like as a kid I always dreamed about being a knight
and shining armor, but riding horses always seemed
like an impossibility.
Armor is expensive, et cetera, et cetera.
- Uh huh
- But then I saw this woman do it, she was amazing
and that was just a theatrical company.
No slight to them at all. But like this is full contact,
so it's a different game, you know.
[crowd cheers and trumpets play fanfare]
My name is Jessica Van Richten.
I am a - a trans woman
and to the joust company
I suppose I am now nearing the end of my training,
but a jouster in training.
I spent the last nine months
or so of the calendar year with a two month break
for the holidays, learning how to ride horses and wear armor
and become an idiot that falls off their horse sometimes.
I wanted to be a knight in shining arbor since I was
very, very small.
And I bent my will
and did everything in my power toward learning how
to ride horses or saving up to learn how to ride horses
and saving up for armor for like a year.
And I figured I was gonna be doing that
for a couple more years when I ran into this joust company,
New Riders of the Golden Age and met Dave specifically.
And I told him that's what I was doing.
I was working for a vendor
and I was like, I'm saving up so I can learn to ride horses
and buy my own armor.
And he's looked me dead in the eyes
and said, well just come with me.
I'll teach you everything. I'm certain Dave will tell me
when the training is done
and I feel I've got, you know, a good ways to go yet as far
as making sure I can make it all the way through the show
with everything that we do.
But I've learned how to do the actual sport,
which is very exciting and I've got my own armor.
And the real reason that I do it is just,
it's fulfilling a lifelong childhood dream
that I never thought was even a possibility until all
of the cards kind of fell in the right place.
Psychologically, the biggest challenge would be I've spent
the last 12 years happily domesticated in love, living
with my, my now wife.
So like life partner. And we have a 7-year-old child.
And the biggest challenge I would say is being undoing my
domestication and learning to live on the road
because life on the road is a very different thing.
I had a new relationship and that was jousting
because it takes up so much of your time leaving.
And the lifestyle change has been the hardest part.
Physically I would say simply my cardio
and endurance while wearing the armor I need
to do some laps while wearing it.
A realization of what I've been working toward
and seeing photos and videos of it.
I've-it's again, the realization of it sinking in.
I did this, I put my mind to something
and reached for something
that I thought was impossible most of my life.
[crowd cheers]
[trumpets playing fanfare]
[Dan Zeitune plays "91 Minutes"]
[music fades]
- So what all does it take to, to be a knight?
- A severe lack of intelligence.
You know, you, like, you...
I-uh
you can do it if you want to,
you know, you, you just have to be willing to go
through the fire that it is to get there.
And then be okay with the fact that you're about
to get your a-- you know, somebody coming at you
trying to take your head off.
You know, if, if you can manage that
and you're okay with it, then you'll-you'll be just fine.
That's really the bottom line of it is if you want it,
you have to be willing to get after it
and you have to be okay with the physical
punishment that comes with it.
You know, if you can do that, you-you-can-you can do this.
I've had my back go out a couple times, but that's
'cause I'm a lot older and my body's durability is starting
to, starting to reduce significantly.
It-lately, like every year
like last year I broke my knu--my uh...
my hand. The year before that
I wrenched my back. The year before that I wrenched my back
and then cracked a rib.
What is termed as full contact where the intention is
to either break your lance or drop your opponent.
It's a combat sport. You're gonna come with bumps
and bruises and aching muscles and body soreness
and you know, sometimes you get a nasty injury
where you know you're gonna pay for it.
[man on horseback making announcement]
So Kelly is the owner of the company,
of the joust team.
He started in 1980 at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival
where he would show up
and do the horse races that they had there
'cause there was no jousting at the time.
And him and another gentleman by the name
of Christopher Poor got together
and decided to, you know, try to create a joust reenactment.
So Kelly and him formed that up,
started jousting, like theatrically.
And then they decided somewhere along the line like,
let's try to figure out how to do this for real.
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
Eventually Kelly and Chris parted ways
and Kelly kept going
and figured out how to joust
and he's figured out a way to do it relatively safely
as compared to any other contact sport.
[Proud Peasant plays "The Precipice"]
[drum roll]
[crowd cheers]
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers loudly]
[person whistles]
[lance cracking]
[lance striking armor]
[lance cracking]
[music fades]
[crowd cheers]
[drum roll]
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers and moans]
[woman screams]
- Easy!
- Hey, hey, hey
- Sam, you okay?
- Your saddle completely titled sideways
[armor lightly clanking]
I'm recognizing the durability in my body is starting
to significantly reduce.
- So you have a metal knuckle?
- Yeah, it's a piece of metal that goes from the,
this knuckle all the way across
- And it bends?
- No, doesn't bend.
But the doctor set it up so that way it-
it-it I can pinch. So if you look...
- Oh, that, that finger stuck.
- Yeah, it's-it's permanently bent.
It's my hook.
[laughs]
When I started, I lived in a tent.
I had to, you know,
figure out how to live very minimally, make sure
that my tent wouldn't flood
or that I would be warm enough in my tents, you know,
and then I had to have my own vehicle to be able
to pack all my stuff up and go from show to show.
There are a lot of interesting hardships that come
with living a transient and minimalist lifestyle.
It's just one of those things
where you're sacrificing a lot to do this, this art form.
[screams and cheers]
[applause]
[louder Applause]
[children chanting] William! William! Willam!
- Villiany was afoot in Sherwood Forest
and now we see how little brother Johnny would rule
in our stead,
allowing dishonorable knights such as Gal
and Guy to rule the field, Get them out of our sight!
- George Appling is the owner of the Sherwood Forest Faire,
probably one of the most enthusiastic,
faire owners I've ever seen who was on his own cast.
He absolutely loves medieval history
and participating in it.
He's the very definition of a cosplayer.
He loves dressing up and being in medieval outfits.
He's very passionate about the faire,
which is really enjoyable to work for.
- This is a, his name is Boris
he's a 20-year-old Percheron gelding.
- Okay. Okay.
- Yeah. 20 years old. He stands 18.2 hands high. - He's a big boy
- which he is a very tall, weighs about 1,850 pounds.
So Sadie is a 21-year-old Percheron mare.
She has been here since 2010.
- Wow.
- So a long time.
He's been here since 2014.
She got here in I think 2017.
Welcome!
We are Richard, Richard, the Lionheart king of the English.
And we are throwing a little party here in Sherwood Forest.
We call it Sherwood Forest Faire.
The year is 1190 and I will be departing on Holy
Crusade this afternoon.
Now I'm leaving my mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine
to keep an eye on my little brother Johnny.
[crowd chants] "God save the queen!"
- And may God save you all!
Our dear son, king Richard had hoped be here this day
to witness the tournament
- Tis I...
Robin Hood!
- And rumor has that there's some outlaw Robin Hood who's
somehow making sure the law is followed.
But I'm sure Prince John won't make any bad decisions.
So if you were here with me at the faire,
you would see over 50 different shows
music, jousting, falconry, comedy, juggling,
all sorts of things.
You would see Skoda Bon Reve.
And we have 170 artisans
making things with their hands,
from hand-blown glass to leather boots
to jewelry, hats, swords, knives, armor,
everything you can think of.
Wooden mugs, pewter mugs.
It's the largest marketplace
of artisanship you can find in central Nottingham...
[whispers] Texas.
This was a record setting season
and we set an attendance record every single weekend in
our eight weekend run.
And, and you could feel it. It was, the energy was so high.
Yeah. And there were just people. Every,
every stage was full, every bar was full.
It was great. We're over 130,000 this season.
People would write "Sherwood is this small faire".
And I would correct them and say, "we are not a small faire,
we are decidedly medium" but I think we may be big now
The horse I sit upon is the Magnificent Glinda
and believe you me, small might be...
what an incredible joust it was today.
Now my friends
I think we'll have to generate
a little bit more...
[Proud Peasant plays "The Prisoner"]
*"We now present you with
the keys to the kingdom"*
[music fades]
The Knights of the Grail is a 501C3
nonprofit organization.
And we are here almost every weekend of the year except
for August because people really
shouldn't be here in August.
And we do equine therapy for active duty military, veterans
and first responders.
Our special hook is we do joust games.
So we have veterans on the horse at a cantor throwing a
spear, hitting the quintain with a lance
and chopping up those vicious, vicious French cabbages.
Bor-ious, the glorious, 20 years old.
I've been a-a horseman for a good 11 or 12 years now.
Um-and I- One of my best friends was a marine
veteran with PTSD.
He was our horse master for several years
and he really wanted to bring in more veterans
to put on the horses because there's a famous saying
by Winston Churchill which is,
"There's something about the
outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
And we find that to be true.
There are several veterans here
who say this program is keeping them alive.
- Oh, the Knights of the Grail.
So yeah, I've been employed as their head trainer
to help get their horses to have good behavior patterns,
but also be safe for, for people that want to come.
And pretty much equine therapy sounds big and fantastic,
but it's really just about
being in the presence of horses.
Just by being with them, petting them, interacting.
Multiple studies have shown things like reduced blood
pressure, reduced anxiety, reduced PTSD triggering.
So there's a lot of benefit that way.
So the program that we have is dedicated around that idea
where if a veteran would like to come
and just pet a horse on the head, they get to do that.
If they wanna learn more about how to work with a horse,
we have a ground program where they learn how
to work the horses from the ground.
We have a saddle program
where they can learn different levels of riding.
And so again, it's mainly just to create an environment
that they can come, interact
with horses in the way that they choose.
Also be around other veterans, you know,
to help each other back and forth just by,
by being a positive presence for each other.
But again, just creating that space to allow them
to have a moment of positivity within a world
that maybe causes them a lot of anxiety
and a lot of frustrations.
- My name's Rob Paul.
I'm a volunteer for an
organization called Knights of the Grail.
Through that organization, I-I got to meet Dave
and since I've been brought in kind of as his apprentice
for horse training and so that's, that's why, that's
where I get my interaction with the joust company from.
I was in the Army, I was a field artillery officer,
did three deployments, two to Afghanistan, one to Iraq.
I was in for about, I was in for 17 years.
I don't know what else you wanna know about that.
So I, I do have PTSD, I have, I have pretty severe PTSD
because of the issues that I have
with my PTSD, anxiety, depression.
I have, I've had severe anger issues in the
past that I'm still working on.
Being with a horses really helps to center me
because I can't take those emotions in with the horse.
The mo- the horse will just feed off of that.
And so being able to work with the horses
and find a calm center for myself
so that I can then go work
with the horses has really helped.
Uh-I've been able to transfer that from just
horses into my daily life.
And being able to function
even when I'm having high anxiety
or even when my depression's really bad,
it really does help me to function and focus.
It's a safe environment for me to be in with my PTSD
because there's no way in hell I'd
ever hurt one of those horses.
Dave has honestly had a huge impact in my life.
He has provi- He's, he has become one
of my very good friends.
Someone I can really trust
and turn to on my hardest days he's been there
and just been someone I could lean on
and rely on who was there for me to support me
and let me know that everything's gonna get better.
He's an amazing coach for me.
Um, very patient.
I-I-I love the way he interacts
with me when he's teaching me how to interact with a horse.
He's just become
a very important person in my life
over the last 10 months and I really hope that-that-
that through the course of this documentary,
other people could see him the way that I do.
He's-he's a pretty amazing human being
and I'm very proud and honored to call him my friend.
- So those terms are good. I like the frame that she kept.
You know, I'm not worried about the perfection
of her body movement right now.
She's at least trying to work with you and not just tense up
and, and start with her fight.
Right. So same thing,
whenever you're ready you're gonna encourage her to do
that, right?
If she's there, then you just invite her
forward just a little...
Yes!
Now same thing when you're ready
to jog little reminders, get her back to the bridle.
Right. Little encourage-
Yes! yes!
- We'll clean out the bottom of their foot
'cause they get a lot
of bacteria in there.
There could be a rock or a nail in
there that would make 'em lame.
So you just wanna make sure those are clean.
- How long have you been with the joust company?
- About 10 years.
I started when I was 16 back in New York for a summer job
and then a couple years later came on the road with them,
worked my way up the ladder from there.
- I'm Shelby Wimler,
I'm kind of just a road manager,
take care of the horses
and make sure they're all well kept
and help train them and train the knights
and squire, stuff like that.
I-I've been with 'em pretty much outta high school.
It was my first summer job
and um... kept coming back each summer
and once I was outta high school I just decided
to go on the road with 'em and see a few new places.
I don't know, the horses were really the big draw.
[laughs]
I was grew up a horse lover, horse girl
and these guys are just so magnificent.
To have my foot in the door
with them was a really nice opportunity.
They're so talented and well-trained.
You don't see a lot with the draft horses.
A lot of 'em are just trail horses
but these guys move really well
and I like the way that we've got 'em trained.
I jousted once
when I was training a horse
I wanted to be
the first one that jousted on her
so they kind
of put a suit of armor together
and I got to the point where she was ready
to do a lance pass
and of course I got knocked off and hit the ground.
But she did exactly what she was supposed to do.
[trumpets playing fanfare]
- Hi, I am Taylor Maine.
I've been with the troop for about six months now.
Training up to be a jouster.
Been coming to ren faire since I was little.
I've kind of seen these guys for years now
and this is my first time being part of the tournament
and I get to marshal for it, which is super exciting.
Like any of these people here,
I don't think everybody realizes how much
of like an extreme personality type they are.
Like I'm sure they do,
but like they think, oh Dave's so much different than me.
And really they're, they're all just the same kind
of explosive sort of a-a-
a maximized type of character.
I mean he's the best jouster here,
probably the best jouster in if not the country than like
one of the top 10 in the world.
It's also like he's been doing it 20 years
and there's not like ma- there's not like
thousands of jousters out there.
There's probably no more than a thousand jousters worldwide.
Probably less than that, probably like in the hundreds.
But he is, of those, one of the best.
Everybody else I've seen on the
horse, I've seen fall at some point.
I have not seen Dave fall yet, which is also why I'm excited
for this weekend
[laughs quietly]
[announcer in background]
I'm Caitlin Alexander.
I'm from Sterling, New York
and I'm considered, like, a squire.
I've been squiring for the company
for 10 years now.
I love the people, everyone here.
They have a really great community sense.
I love the horses.
The horses are amazing
but really I just come back for the people.
So I train all the new people on the ground to show them
how the show works,
how to put armor on the guys,
how to take armor, saddles,
bridles off the horses after the show.
Basically I do all the background behind the scenes,
prep the show so it works smoothly for the Knights.
My favorite horse is Abraham.
I just love his whole personality.
Um- he was actually the first horse I took lessons on
Dave like he's out there every day during the week, riding
and he puts in like a 100 percent into the shows.
Even though I'm super hot days when you're just like bone-
tired, you just don't want to do anything.
He's still there.
Like this is his passion, this is his love
and that's what makes him such a great jouster.
Even though he said he is gonna retire, I don't know
how many different times,
but I know he will still continue-
will be continuing this like no matter how long.
- How about we just like
[man laughs]
- Come on!
- What?
- Keep it up smart ass, see where it gets you with me.
[man laughs]
- You know, when I started working
with horses it just made sense and I enjoyed it
and I was hungry to learn from whoever-
whoever was willing to teach me.
When I got to Florida to meet Kelly for the first time,
who is the owner of the company,
um- he would do horse competitions
and when I watched videotape of that I was like wow, I want
that level of proficiency
and it just drove me to try to accomplish that.
So it's one of those things
that you didn't actively think about.
It just, it was inspiring and it just kept me going.
You know, you gotta guide 'em through the crucible
of the same thing that you guide the riders through.
There's a lot of anxiety, there's things
breaking over their heads.
They got sword swinging, there's a lot
of noise, there's a lot of audience.
So there's, there's a lot of layers to that as well.
Like, and some horses do better with it
and other horses don't and some will never do it.
You know, dealing with a young one right now that you know,
he's not sure about everything.
Where I had a horse the same age, you know, last year
where she was like, had moments of anxiety
but then, oh I got this figured out very quickly
and didn't make a big deal about it.
So every horse is different, you know.
We'll come out we'll say like just a quick little whatever,
but then it's on the marshalls to go ahead
and say now that all the champions have been, you know,
introduced, it's now time to begin this tournament.
Thereby knights I ask you now turn to the left and proceed.
You know, and what ideally I would like
to have happen is everybody turns left at the same time
and just jogs down the rail.
[Proud Peasant plays "The Prisoner"]
[music fades]
- Arm themselves
- I am Liam Mooney, I am a squire.
It is a spectacle, it's a performance, it's you know,
a competition and a performance at the same time.
'cause it's legit, you know, they get out there
and it's, it's real.
They wanna win. They want to unhorse their opponent and
but it's also a performance
so it's like everyone's on the same side.
You know, we're all looking out for each other here.
No one's ever trying to hurt anybody else,
but we're still trying to win.
So it has that friendly competition
that gives it like an extra layer
of both comradery and enjoyment.
We all, everybody
knight, squire, manager
in the morning do
horse feed and scoop and clean
and everything in the morning and then again at night.
And we do training and riding during the actual faire time.
Most of the day is spent doing horse rides.
We give horse rides to get some extra income
and enthusiasm about what we do.
But I'm so excited and I'm excited for the crowd
that it'll bring and just,
I mean, I'm here
because I love the joust
so seeing it like doubled
or almost tripled here
with the tournament is freaking exciting.
- So my name is Sydney Froemke.
I use they them pronouns
In the show I am Dame Eleanor Hawkins,
the Raven of Kent.
I started working with them in 2015.
So about eight years.
I started working in Minnesota.
That's where they picked me up
and I didn't come on the road until 2019
and then took a break with Covid.
[crowd cheers]
[lance cracking]
[trumpets playing fanfare]
[lance cracking]
[crowd chanting] Eleanor! Eleanor! Eleanor!
One of the biggest challenges is just being able
to operate in the armor when it's really hot out.
'cause it's like an easy-bake oven.
It gets very warm
and you only have
to be out there for a certain amount of time.
But you are active for the time
that you are out there and you're in the sun.
There's no shade, there's no mercy.
And you can run outta breath very quickly.
And in the beginning I did, I was like gasping at the end
of the show when they pulled my helmet off.
Bandaid here, that's where the pinch was.
This is just the edge of the armor digging in.
- So it's worse under the bandage?
- Yes. - Oh is it?
- It looks like a-a-
- Oh it looks like a shark bite.
- An actual bite. Yeah, right there.
- Ouch.
Oh I'm very excited to be riding Titan.
Titan is the tallest horse that we have.
He is super sweet.
He's blind in one eye
but that doesn't really affect him at all.
Sometimes he runs into things but he doesn't even care.
That's one of the reasons why I'm on him as a newbie.
I'm looking forward to just seeing how I,
I guess I measure up to all of these guys
that I've watched just for years
- That's right my friends,
I am your hero,
your fabled champion,
the most handsome knight in all the realm
with the finest, tone-est buttocks out there.
Sir Christopher!
Hey! You guys made it!
You're in the wrong crowd!
[crowd laughs]
Well come over here!
- I am Thomas Buckley
but my character name is Sir Christopher Hatton.
Initially I inquired about jousting
because I wanted to learn how
to ride a horse when I was starting to look
to build my resume, especially my stunt performance resume.
I was interested in jousting for the horse riding aspect
of it so that I could have more
hands-on experience riding
horses, falling from horses, whether that be real
or stunt work
and give myself a little bit of an edge
as a performer out there.
And really just largely the experience.
So jousting in for me in particular has been a-
a focus in the physical stunt work.
The toughest part of jousting
for me is staying on the horse.
I'm already a very light individual
who hasn't fully grasped mastering the seat of the steed,
which makes me an easy individual to face-off against.
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
It's exhilarating
and if you're in the right mindset it can be the the
world's best thing.
And then at other times it can be the the most
terrible thing.
It all depends on how I'm really going into it.
I'd like to say I've leaning into it very positively
and excited to see what, what mayhem
and carnage is going to come.
You know, the great thing about that show
is I didn't break a single lance
so now I don't have to make any for the next show.
[laughs]
So long as there's breath in my body
victory shall be ours
[crowd cheers]
I've had a few random injuries,
I have pulled my rotator cuff
or kind of hurt it in a sense that put me out for some time.
But I have broken my left toe twice,
oddly enough from this sport.
Arguably, I don't know why,
I think it's because I put so much pressure in
that left stirrup and then getting on horse the sudden
release of that pressure has probably led to some
of those fractures in the, in the bone within the toe.
Or maybe I've hit everything on the way down
with my left foot.
I've known Dave since 2014 when I was on cast at the
Sterling Renaissance Festival.
He was the fight choreographer at that faire
and that is when I initially first met him.
And when I speak of how much pain
and torture that has been delivered onto my visage
and persona, both physically, emotionally, mentally,
I am now in fear of my life at this very moment
for having uttered these words in his presence.
- And that's without drugs and alcohol that's on pure air.
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
[trumpets playing fanfare]
- A lance pass happens so quickly.
So you have to really zone in
so dramatically on every lance pass.
It's a high energy sport.
But to put out a great performance with the horse,
which includes even say the sword fighting on horseback,
the entrances
and all the maneuvers that come with riding a horse
and focusing on that.
To do that on four different horses
with maybe only like 10 minutes of prep time
before a half hour show in the armor 140 pounds.
To have that like skill
and ability is definitely impressive.
I am the sweet old lady horse that is Anna.
And Anna is the mother of two
of the other horses in this company that is Titan
and Thor, no matter what the results are for me,
even if I get unhorsed, if I get hurt, if I feel like her
and I are lance passes are good, solid
and acceptable, I'll be happy.
And that's, that's been my biggest desire at this tournament
is just to revisit an old partnership that
wasn't always on the best foot.
- Who's next?
Silas
Hi, my name is Silas Holtz
and I am being interviewed for what I believe is
to be a documentary about certain aspects of jousting
pertaining to the company I work with
and the employee David Schade.
Dave is one of the best jousters in the country.
So I grew up on a small farm in upstate New York.
I went to college for acting,
mostly like straight acting for the stage.
From there I got into stage combat, I trained
with the Society of American Fight Directors
and then I started training with a bunch
of other fight directors here and there.
I got cast at the Sterling Renaissance Festival as one
of their in-house actors.
And I had a rough and tumble existence
and so it kind of appealed to both of those sides to me.
It offered me a challenge to do it.
I didn't have many attachments so I was able to just kind
of give up everything and it was a grand adventure.
I trained for...
let's say probably almost, almost six months,
I think before I was put in my first show.
Different guys would get in at different times, you know,
I wasn't talented at it at all.
So the reason I made it was
because I just wanted to do it very badly.
But I had very little natural talent I had to really learn.
But luckily there was a lot of veteran, especially Dave.
They're very giving with their time and advice.
So I've been jousting for about 16 years.
Helmet hit yet the helmet's, my helmet's really
close, it's really tight.
So it must have, it must have seeded and then moved up.
The toughest part of jousting it doesn't pay great
but then there's all the fun that comes with it.
I think the toughest part
that people don't really think about is that you have
to be okay with just being uncomfortable for months
and months and months.
You know, you're always healing a little bit,
you're often sleeping and like a tent or trailer,
but it's hard to really imagine
and conceptualize being just,
just never being quite comfortable for, you know,
nine months in a row.
- My name is Andrew Hoffman
and I'm a jouster with New Riders...
of the Golden Age.
- Gotta get all the way down to the nubs
- I am riding Indigo.
He's a little hard-sided sometimes,
but he's a damn fine jousting horse.
He runs very straight, very reliably as long
as I'm actively riding him.
It was the ability of the travel
be around horses
primarily my goal, professionally speaking, is
to be with horses and my goal personally speaking is
to travel and have fun and jousting is
how I could do both of those things.
Only way to do it on the road.
Other that would be in a rodeo.
I think I had started training in 2017.
I wanna say it took me about nine months,
roughly could have gotten in faster.
But realistically speaking it, I didn't know how
to ride a horse at all before I joined this company.
I'd been on horses my entire life
and never learned how to ride properly
before jousting and horses.
I would say I was with a carriage company
that my family owned and operated for about 12 or so years,
since the early 2000's.
Ever since I was a kid we'd been going
to renaissance festivals as well.
So it's just where horses and horses
and festivals met is where I found into jousting you have
to cultivate the relationship with the horse
and you they have to be part of the conversation as well.
And oftentimes when I had been with horses growing up,
they weren't really allowed to be part of the conversation
'cause they were just used as tractors, tools, implements
to get whatever job we needed done
and performing with them in a show they have to be part
of the conversation 'cause they have loud voices
and they will be heard if they need to be heard.
So it was definitely humbling myself to be able
to ride the horse and you know,
comfortably communicate with them.
And to be entirely frank, the skill level is a little skewed
between the, between the jousters here.
Like Dave's been doing this for like almost 30 years
so it's kind of hard to stand up against,
the amount of time he's put in.
The first time I met Dave would've been in 2003,
I was eight years old, I think it was in Louisiana.
And I was attending one of the jousts there.
Once he actually picked me outta the crowd
put me in the middle
of the field and said, "Alright, stand right here
and I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna run at
you and jump this horse over you."
And I stood there and he went and he started running at me
and then he stopped right in front of me and he's just like,
"Get the hell outta here kid.
I'm not gonna actually jump a horse over you."
Dave is a titan on the field and he's a damn fine jouster
I would venture to call him one
of the best jousters in America.
And this is a very fun job and and a fun experience
and sometimes I, it's kind of hard
to not feel like a rock star.
It's an exciting thing. We're gonna go out there
and joust in front of a whole crowd
of people and it's gonna be amazing.
I always get bruises up in here
'cause the armor is constantly biting me.
It's just mostly just bruises.
I've never broken anything yet is there is always a-a risk
that we take doing this.
Almost every one of us has one
of these right here on the top of your knuckle.
We always, it always gets split
'cause that's where the band plate hits in the hand.
But that's where we learn
to start patting our gauntlets a little better.
So it's, as long as everyone pads themselves
and takes care of their body properly,
injuries can be mitigated.
My name's Sam Kuecker.
Go by the name Sir Jacob Samuels.
And I'm a knight.
Been doing it for about 11 years, I suppose.
As soon as I got out of high school, I joined the military.
I was in the Air Force for six years.
The only reason I got into jousting was
'cause I knew a guy from the military who started jousting
and he called me up and asked me if I wanted to do it.
So, and I was like, sure,
I don't got anything better to do.
I kind of grew up around horses,
but I never really rode horses.
So I guess it was just the experience,
me and Dave get along really well during the show.
'cause if somebody flubs up on something,
we can usually pick up on it.
You know, we, we can tell if the other
person's struggling with something.
So we kind of, you know, fill in for the other person, like
during a ground fight or something like that.
Earlier on in my career I screwed up my wrist a lot.
Soon as I got a new gauntlet fixed, a lot of that.
I haven't had anything serious.
If it fits right, your armor will protect you very well.
The, the more times you hit the ground,
the the slower time gets for you it seems.
So you can think about what you have to do.
You know, don't stick your arms out, you know,
kind of try to tuck 'em in.
This is the most talking you'll ever hear me talk about.
I don't do the whole talking out there on the
joust field or anything.
I am like the reigning champion.
So there's probably a little more pressure on me from
everybody else to try to beat me.
I think they're all gonna be gunning for me.
- So the owner of the faire has put up a $1000 dollar purse
for the the winner to take home.
- She says to me on the phone the other day
like we're talking
and she's like, "You're gonna win, right?"
I'm like, I don't know, we'll see what happens.
"No, you are going to win. Your daughter wants you to win."
- I'm like, Damn it. I'm like
- Eye on the prize.
- Thanks hun. -You're welcome.
- Love you. -Love you too.
- Yeah, the prize is important
but it's not the ultimate important.
The ultimate important is gonna be
what does the audience take away from it?
You know, are they laughing and smiling
and having a great time or are they sitting here going,
why are those guys arguing about points for 10 minutes?
What's going on? I don't understand. Right.
And the weird thing is, is even though I've jousted
with all these guys, I'm a little in my head about this.
Like, I'm like, it's a tournament weekend.
You know, like you want to go out there and
and be the guy everybody says you are, you know, as far
as being the most experienced or the big killer on the field
and this and that, you know,
but like anybody else, you know, one match you,
you can lose focus
and then maybe you're not that guy and that's okay.
There's nothing wrong with that. But still, like,
it's hard not to get that performance anxiety where like,
man, I really wanna go out there and kill it this weekend.
I wanna show everybody what we can do
and how good we really are.
You know? And not even like, like the whole team.
I, I want everybody to do good and,
and really have good matches, you know
There's something about the combative arts
that you gain respect for people that give you a good fight.
Like our tournament's gone in-house the last couple years
for various reasons.
- Glad to host one of the best jousting tournaments
anyone will ever see.
There's two kinds of jousting, there's theatrical jousting
and there's competitive jousting.
The jousting here at Sherwood
Forest Faire is always competitive.
And so on a regular faire day there may be, you know,
three knights jousting.
But on the tournament day there, there are six to eight
and it's a round robin tournament
and they're just lance shards flying all over the place.
Bodies flying all over the place.
We had a double unhorsing.
It's kinda watching a train wreck, you're just waiting
for the smash and the knight flying outta the saddle.
It's a- it's quite something to watch.
[trumpets playing medieval fanfare]
[crowd chanting] "Christopher! Christopher! Christopher!"
[announcer] The hour is indeed on us.
We've all gathered in mass around this sandy arena.
We have four competitors who are just blood thirsty
to take home the championship belt.
That championship title that is the master
of the list this day are just eager
to rip forth from their saddles
and destroy their opponents this day.
So who is ready for a penultimate match
of our jousting tournament?!
[crowd cheers]
[PUNK'D plays "Out Of Flux"]
[music fades]
[announcer] We have one new champion
and that champion this day,
the overall championship of the list
is that man of the green, of the black
the bear of northumber
Give it up for Sir Jacob Samuels!
My friends what say you for their valiant effort?
Hip Hip!
[crowd cheers] hooray!
[announcer] Awww it's always good to keep the good
sportsmanlike conduct this day.
Now for those of you who have a mind,
these knights are going
to be walking amongst you with helmets
and pens to answer any
and all questions you may have for them.
- This was an awesome jousting tournament.
Thanks for everybody that came out
and thank you to your wonderful jousts
and they're wonderful horses.
We'll see you next time at Sherwood Forest
jousting tournament.
- How do you feel, man?
- I don't know,
I guess I'm glad it's over
I guess, uh, glad I
glad I beat David again,
that's always great.
- Well congratulations man.
- Thank you.
- It was a hell of a show.
- Yeah, I'm glad we really,
we really started smacking each other on that last show.
So...
- You rat bastard
That was awesome. Good job.
I know all I can think of is, man, if I didn't miss
that second pass, we'd
probably still be out there right now.
That was good job. That was awesome.
I still hate you but good job.
I know already I wanted to win,
like I remember feeling that, but I like,
but not at the detriment of Sam.
Like, because when I joust Sam
I have a great time
like him and I always have banger matches usually
and he's fun.
Like I consider him a friend and,
and I love having him around.
So for me it wasn't like going out there
to say I'm better than you Sam.
It's more of like, I'm not sure,
maybe like something about my
reputation or whatever, you know what I mean?
But I like, I wasn't going in there with poison.
I was going in there with focus of like really wanting
to settle in and, and do what I know I'm capable of doing.
So when you hear that word competitive,
like sometimes it could be a bad thing, right?
Because it, it,
it automatically assumes an adversarial relationship
but also competitive just means you're trying
to really hone your focus to, to win.
You know? But if I don't win I can be
okay with my performance.
[violin playing]
- I'm a professional squire, Sir Daniel.
Around this time last year I suffered a pretty
severe concussion.
I was actually knocked out completely on this very field.
I went up against Sir William Dudley, David Shade
and on our very last pass we both connected with a lot
of force and I just came right out of the saddle
and landed right on the side of my head.
Had no reaction time to even really roll
or try to move myself.
I just went straight down
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
- I hit Tom, cleared him out of the saddle
and he hit the ground,
which is something he does quite a bit.
But in this particular instance,
the way he hit
a piece of the helmet somet- how got exposed
and hit him behind the ear actually left a small-
small opening there.
And I mean it knocked him clean out.
He was on the field for a few minutes
before he came to
they put him on a backboard to make sure
that, you know, he was okay.
But he had a severe concussion.
He was stuck on repeat.
He had no clue what happened.
And he kept asking what happened over
and over and over again.
But then he started cussing me out a little bit,
which is normal for him.
So we're like, all right, he'll be fine.
Yeah, that was terrifying 'cause I thought I killed him
or that I irrevocably wrecked his life.
So thankfully that wasn't the case.
Thankfully he was okay but ugh, that was a-
that was a big experience.
And I like Tom a lot
he's lucky I admit that on camera.
- A little scary for me just
to wake up in an ambulance staring at the guy
who unhorsed me and his crying child.
[laughs]
You know, the funniest thing about that too,
is the first thing I do remember when I came to is Dave
he's sitting there he is, got his crying
six year old in his arms and I looked at him and said
eat- [horse snorts] Dave
and then the paramedic closed the doors and drove off.
Unfortunately that's the reality of the job
and of the the sport.
It's just, you never know when something
like that's gonna happen.
I don't remember anything about the past
or the contact at all.
So that's a good two-ish seconds
of memory
that's just something I'll never get back.
You know, it's something I would never
wanna go through again.
I don't wish it on anybody. I've taken it slow.
I have yet to get back in saddle
and it's been about a year,
but I'm looking to do that next weekend
within this company.
I've done just about every role that is ever needed
between ground crew, um
and ground crew can be squiring,
it can be picking up the,
the debris on the field.
For this tournament,
I've elected to be a judge at the other end at one end
that way so I can help the marshal score
being in the ground crew.
Truth be told, it makes me feel like a kid that's locked
inside while the rest of the class is out on recess
and it, you know, it sucks
'cause you're just sitting like I want to have fun too.
Eager to get back into it
because I do enjoy performing in the armor.
I enjoy riding in the armor, the sport's just one
of those once in a lifetime exhilarating sports that
when you get the opportunity to do it
and compete in it, why would you ever say no?
- Before jousting, I was an elite softball
player for 15 years.
So I grew up rough and tumble.
I did a lot of sports. I did hockey, skated
and I did soccer for fun.
So I'm super athletic.
I also was a dance teacher and instructor.
I danced 10 to 12 times a week.
So many hours in the studio
and it's definitely helped with riding.
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
And to have this experience almost a year later
to be competing in the finals against like Silas, Dave
and Sam has been crazy.
I honestly am still kind of speechless
that I even made it here beginning of the weekend.
I didn't think I'd get here.
It has been a confidence booster for me
'cause I struggled over the last year with a bunch of stuff
and jousting and riding
and trying to make it all come into one cohesive gel.
And this tournament kind of solidified it for me
that I am capable
of doing this extremely stupid and dangerous sport.
Yeah, I didn't join the company,
the intention of jousting ever.
I honestly just joined
'cause I wanted to work with the horses
and then Dave one day looked at me
and he's like, are you training the joust?
And I just said, yes, I wanna be jousting as long
as my body is able to handle it.
- So you're relatively new?
- Yes, today was my second day ever jousting.
[laughs]
It's awesome.
I've been, you know, looking forward to it,
and then it's here and it's crazy
and everyone's like
what- did it feel like you expected?
you know, breaking a lance or getting unhorsed.
I'm like, I didn't really know what to expect.
It's, you can't simulate
or really think about what
that's gonna feel like until it happens.
Kind of crazy having my first jousting
show be the tournament.
It's got--
[laughs]
Trial by fire a little bit
and so far I'm not so singed.
I've also had training from Shelby and Kelly
and you know, Silas and Syd
and you know
they'll all give their two cents when they can.
And it's awesome having so many voices
but then having Dave be like chief coach
He really knows
how to speak to you in horse language
in a way that you can understand it.
- And how do you feel about Dave's planned
retirement after today?
- It's a bummer, but I'm kind of glad my first overlaps
with his last and you know, we'll miss him on the road,
but it'll always be new riders.
[violin playing]
- My wife, I met at a show in upstate New York
because her family had a booth there
and she used to work that booth when she was younger.
So because she understood the lifestyle
that is the renaissance festival,
you know, we, we connected
and, and thankfully we're still together.
Do you wanna be on camera? Is that what you're saying?
You wanna tell everybody how awesome your dad is?
[girl squealing]
My little girl loves faires.
Like, she loves the fantasy of it.
Like some of my favorite pictures
of her in a fairy costume cheering me on.
Like, how cool is that?
You know, that, that my little girl gets to see
that and enjoy that.
But then, you know, like, I, I have to make a choice.
Am I gonna be home this weekend
or am I gonna go be there for the joust team
to keep 'em going because I love this thing, you know,
like I make that choice like, you know, get kind
of a financial slap in the face, you know?
And then I go home
and then I have a disappointed little girl.
I have a-a-a- a wife that misses me
you know?
And, and I miss her.
Like I would love for her
to go with me to all these venues,
but the company can't afford to fly both of us out.
Like I love going places with my wife.
Like, and when I can't take her with me, it sucks.
- All this risk, all this emotion,
all this danger. Is it worth it?
- That's the question, isn't it?
I've spent so many years doing it
that the bad things avoided me in a lot of ways.
So I never thought about it as old.
I got older and I, I have a family that I love
and my daughter who I wanna see grow up.
When you all of a sudden start having something to lose,
then your mindset changes a little bit.
You lose that shell of immortality
that you create when you're going into a combat situation.
For me it was worth it. I enjoyed my career
and I enjoyed my time.
I will not say last time to do this tournament at Sherwood,
you know, but definitely not traveling anymore.
So I don't know, I don't know what the future holds.
I don't want to say absolute,
but I definitely know that, you know,
I'm in twilight right now.
It's a, it's a exploration process at this moment.
Like I still very much have the artist mindset
where I want to be doing a job that
I'm very passionate about.
So like right now I love coaching martial arts
and I'm focusing on that,
but I also gotta focus on paying the bills.
So I have to take a job to just do that.
I've been chasing background acting a little
bit to explore that.
You know, maybe if I meet the right people I can break into
to doing some, you know, stunt work with the horses
or wrangling or something along those lines.
So like I won't ever put a finality
to anything just at this moment.
I know I need a very long break from it.
I wanna miss it again. If I ever decide to armor up,
you know, and if I don't miss it then,
then it's, then I'm done.
You know? And I definitely right now I don't miss it.
I put my armor on again. I was like yeah so it's time.
It's just time. Well the tournament over the weekend is
pretty much where six to eight knights get together.
They compete to, you know,
claim the title a champion towards the end of it.
So there's six shows that we do
and every rider joust in those shows
and they'll compete for wins and losses.
So after we do five shows, everybody will have jousted,
everybody and then you tally who's got the
best win loss record.
If there is a clear one
and two, then they move on to the, the championship match.
[muffled fanfare]
[crowd cheers]
- My lords, my ladies
I am Sir Arundell
And it is with great pleasure and honor that I greet
each and every one of you with good day!
[crowd cheers]
and we're gathered here to watch this spectacle
of a tournament joust
We have brought forth six knight combatants
that will compete against one another.
Your knight has the strength to shatter a lance
that will earn them five points
And if your knight has the skill tenacity
and fortitude to take a lance
and rip some of off the back of a horse,
that earns them 10 points.
[Proud Peasant plays "The Prisoner"]
[music fades]
[lance cracking]
[lance striking armor]
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
[armor clanking lightly]
[lance cracking]
[lance whooshing]
[lance cracking]
[lance whooshing]
[sand scatters off rope]
[lance cracking]
[crowd cheers]
[lance cracking]
[horse whinnies]
[crowd cheers]
[horse whinnies]
[trumpet playing fanfare]
[crowd cheers]
[lance cracking]
[hooves softly galloping]
[booming lance cracking]
[armor crashing onto sand]
[muffled laughter from inside armor]
[crowd cheers]
[trumpets playing fanfare]
[announcer] Sir William Dudley!
[crowd cheers loudly]
- Like I really wanted to win.
Like that was one of those ones where
like I could just feel it through my bones of like,
I did not wanna lose.
I mean if I would've lost it would've been fine.
'cause I was having a great match with Sam
and he's looking good dude and great jouster.
But I definitely wanted to win. Definitely, definitely.
And it's weird trying to keep that energy in such a way
of like, not letting it be toxic you know,
that it overrides your, your, your ability to be comrades
with your, your partners
and you know, just make good judgements
that are fair and right for everybody.
You know, instead of something that could be, be selfish
to get you over the top, you know.
The victor of the jousting tournament Sir William Dudley
[crowd cheers]
[trumpet playing fanfare]
I've been doing this 25
years and it's been great
and to finish up with this guy over here is fantastic
because he's, every bit, you know, as equal
to me, that was just one of those matches
where he missed one
and I didn't, you know, so
I couldn't have a great match without a guy like him.
- Woo. That was nerve wracking.
There was a weird calm about that show,
which made me really anxious.
I'm glad that everybody's safe and they got through it
and they're both champions and they both know it.
So it was a good, it was a good job. They did a good job.
You're passionate about the joust
and you're passionate about a lot of other things,
so it'll be nice to see 'em, let those other pieces grow
and, you know, maybe be a little bit safer for a while.
That'd be nice. Less bumps and bruises.
Like, I do like to heal people,
but you know, it'd be nice to take a little break.
[laughs]
- What do you think is next for you?
- I'm trying to figure that out. In the grand scheme
of things, I'm happy.
And it's funny too, when I told my kid I was gonna stop
jousting, she's like, "but daddy, why?"
You know, I've done so much stupid stuff in my life
that the wanderlust isn't there anymore.
I've done it. Which is why like, being
with my family is nice because I'm not sitting there going,
but I need to do so much more.
I haven't done, I've done a lot
and I love everything that I've done.
There's certainly the missing of experiencing locations,
but the headache of the lifestyle, I won't lie.
It's nice having a house that's my own
and everything works in it properly.
I'll figure it out as I go along.
I know what I wanna be doing, which is things
that I'm passionate about and that's my focus.
And ideally it'll bring me to success.
And success doesn't have to be anything amazing.
It just means that, you know, my family and I are good.
We're able to enjoy our life the way that we would like to.
- That'll do, that'll do, that'll do.
- Everyone. Tighter. Tighter together.
- Act like you know each other.
- Yeah, yeah. Act like you all like each other.
- Alright! Here we go!
On three. Big smile. 1, 2, 3! There we go.
Everyone say "Knight Life"
- Knight Life!
[Proud Peasant plays "The Prisoner"]