Charlie Andrews Helps Train the Next Generation of Jousters

Charlie Andrews (of the Knights of Mayhem), the Knights of Iron and members of Combatant's Keep all came together on Saturday, March 9, at Windy Knolls Farm in Sullivan, Ohio to give a clinic on contemporary competitive jousting. It was called the Equine Excellence Jousting Clinic 2013.

Charlie Andrews teaches lance handling at the Equine Excellence Jousting Clinic 2013(photo by Suzanne DeMink)

The ten participant slots were filled almost as soon as the clinic was announced, and on the day of the clinic, the stands were filled with spectators cheering the participants on. The participants were all female, ranging in age from teenage to grandma. It looks like the future of jousting is going to the girls.

The jousting clinic participants listen to Charlie Andrews. (photo by Suzanne DeMink)

According to Suzanne DeMink who was at the clinic taking photographs:

“Baron, Charlie's mount, decided early on in the clinic to set the girls at ease, so he dumped Charlie. The girls relaxed when they realized that everyone falls. None of the clinic participants fell, and they all had incredible control of their mounts!” – Suzanne DeMink

The participants were first taught a couple of the basic mounted skill at arms (MSA) exercises – cut and thrust, spear throw, tilting at rings and tilting against the quintain. Then, they actually got to tilt against jouster Kellyn Burtka of the Knights of Iron using a cardboard lance with a foam tip. The young lady who rode the horse named Gretchen was declared the “Cup Winner” of the clinic by Charlie Andrews.

The Cup Winner of the clinic as determined by Charlie Andrews. (photo by Suzanne DeMink)

The horse, Gretchen, was so cute that Charlie nicknamed her Ted E. Bear.

Charlie had this to say about the clinic:

“Cortney Lang, Mickaela Ellen, Liz Goldsmith, Mandi Combs, I am so proud of all of you and the other ladies who participated in the clinic!!!! You four were unbelievable though and could easily transition into jousting if you wanted to. I am honored that you will be coming to EA [Equine Affair] in Columbus and would love your help on the field and with the horses!!!! I'm still blown away we had close to 400 people in the stands to watch the clinic for 6 hours and had them till the very end to watch us joust. Ohio kicks A**!!!! Thank you Lynn Brenner for a great event and a first class facility.” – Charlie Andrews

At the end of the clinic, Charlie Andrews and several of the other experienced jousters put on a demonstration of jousting for the clinic participants and spectators.

Thomas Nader on his horse Bohdrum (photo by Suzanne DeMink)

Thomas Nader of Combatant's Keep had this to say about Charlie Andrews:

“It was an absolute pleasure to meet Charlie Andrews in the Lyst. Even as a mere exhibition, in borrowed kit, on a borrowed horse, he was spot on. An absolute professional.” – Thomas Nader

Video of a few highlights from the clinic:

You can see more pictures from the clinic in the Equine Excellence 2013 photo album.

You can learn more about Charlie Andrews and the Knights of Mayhem, the Knights of Iron and Combatant's Keep by clicking on their names/links.

Charlie Andrews and the Knights of Iron Jousting Clinic

Along with The Knights of Iron, Charlie Andrews, of The Knights of Mayhem tv show and jousting troupe, will be teaching students how to joust at a jousting clinic in Sullivan, Ohio on March 9, 2013. There are 10 spots available for students and unlimited spots available for watching the clinic and demonstrations of jousting.

More information about the clinic and demonstrations can be found by following this link.

Jousting (photo from The Knights of Iron)

Jordan Heron Wins the Lysts on the Great Lakes Jousting Tournament 2012

Despite rather nasty weather, The "Lysts on the Great Lakes" jousting tournament took place as scheduled August 10 – 11 in Belleville, Michigan as part of the 66th annual Wayne County Fair. Jordan Heron rode Sterling, a 16.2 hand Percheron cross gelding, to victory as the overall tournament champion. Charlie Andrews of the Knights of Mayhem earned second place overall, and Andre Renier of the Knights of Iron came in third overall.

Jordan Heron on Sterling (photo by Tammie Graves)

Unfortunately, L Dale Walter, the leader of the Knights of Iron – the hosts for this tournament – was injured when his horse Brenin slid in the mud and Dale was thrown into a nearby fence early on Friday. Brenin was not hurt and Dale will recover, but he was unable to continue jousting. However, Dale still played a big part in the tournament, assisting announcer Whitney Senn Rowlett by providing color commentary throughout the rest of the event.

L Dale Walter on Brenin (photo by Lillyrose Photography)

The tournament was originally going to be a team competition, but for various reasons became more of an individual competition with different winners for the different sections of the tournament. Andre Renier, on Riley, a 16.3 handTB/Percheron cross gelding, won the Mounted Skill at Arms(MSA) section of the tournament which was run as a series of individual games. He was also chosen as the winner of the Horsemanship award.

Andre Renier on Riley (photo by Tammie Graves)

Steve Hemphill won second place in the MSA and North Gienow (son of jouster Dale Gienow) came in third.

North Gienow puts on his medal while father Dale Gienow looks on with pride
(photo by Suzanne DeMink)

Kellyn Burtka, who rode a 15 hand foundation quarter horse mare named Ashlyn, was chosen as the Most Chivalrous competitor.

Kellyn Burtka on Ashlyn (photo by Tammie Graves)

The jousting section of the competition was intense with Charlie Andrews, Steve Hemphill and Dale Gienow earning perfect scores on multiple passes on Friday, and Jordan Heron, Jason Monarch, and Andre Renier earning perfect scores during their passes on Saturday. The winner of the jousting section of the tournament ended up being Jordan Heron, who also, as mentioned previously, won the overall tournament.

Jordan Heron(left) jousts Jason Edwards Monarch(right)(photo by Suzanne DeMink)

Charlie Andrews came in second in the jousting section of the tournament, and Steve Hemphill came in third.

According to Jason Edwards Monarch:

"This was one HARD tourney, with all the competitors separated by less than six points in the score. A 90% accuracy rate by all those who competed! Very hard rules, where only hits on the ecranch counted, and additional rules for horse control. I scored a perfect day on Friday, and almost on Saturday. Finally got to joust Steve Hemphill, who invited me to the TX tourney, and best in the world Charlie Andrews from Knights of Mayhem. Great time!" -- Jason Edwards Monarch

Mary Neill helps Steve Hemphill with his armour(photo by Tammie Graves)

The ground crew for the tournament was led by Samantha Matyas of the Knights of Iron and the head judge for the tournament was Gerald Pyra. The horses ridden by the jousters in the tournament were as follows:

Andre Renier rode Riley: Percheron Thoroughbred cross gelding, 16.3 hands
Charlie Andrews rode Baron: Shire gelding, 16.2 hands
Dale Gienow rode Druid: Clydesdale gelding, 16.3 hands
Jason Monarch rode Sabylla: Percheron mare, 16.3 hands
Jordan Heron rode Sterling: Percheron cross gelding, 16.2 hands
Kellyn Burtka rode Ashlyn: Foundation Quarterhorse mare, 15 hands
L Dale Walter rode Brenin: Belgian Quarterhorse cross gelding, 16.2 hands
Nikki Fourtzialas rode Thunder: Percheron gelding, 19.1 hands
Steve Hemphill rode Hershey: Quarterhorse mare, 14.1 hands

Dale Gienow on Druid (photo by Lillyrose Photography)

Many thanks to Suzanne DeMink and Tammie Graves for providing information and pictures for this article.

Jousting Tournament at the Ohio State Fair

This year, for the first, but hopefully not the last time, the Ohio State Fair included a jousting tournament. The competitors were all jousters with Thomas Nader's Ohio based equestrian troupe Combatant's Keep, while the Knights of Iron -– a jousting troupe from Michigan -- and a few other people, including several kids from a local 4H club, provided ground crew and support staff.

(video from The Columbus Dispatch)

The Competitors included:

Thomas Nader, the founder of Combatant's Keep, on his horse Maggie.
(photo from the Combatant's Keep website)

Casey McCarthy on Nemesis
(photo from Combatant's Keep website)

Patrick Neil on Diego
(photo from Combatant's Keep website)

Bill Gay on Scipio
(photo from Combatant's Keep website)






The tournament took place during two sessions on Sunday, July 29, one at noon and the other at 5pm. The tournament involved mounted skill at arms(MSA), a “boar” hunt and mounted melee as well as the usual jousting. The MSA portion of the tournament included tilting at rings, thrown spear, Saracen Heads, a small jump, the quintain (1 pt per rotation) and finally pig-sticking. Each competitor ran the course separately. Thomas won the noon session of the MSA with 15 points.

During the noon session of the “Boar” hunt, in which all the jousters competed at the same time, Squire Eddie did such a good job dragging the “boar” around the arena that not one of the mounted competitors was able to catch and kill the “boar”. However, Squire Mary, to the cheers of the crowd, ran it down and stabbed it with a spear.

The Mounted Melee for this tournament was won by collecting tokens placed in sequential order around the arena. Casey cleverly won the noon melee by riding around the arena in the opposite direction from everyone else, collecting four tokens while the rest of the jousters were still fighting over the first token in the direction they chose to go.

Thomas Nader won the noon jousting session, beating Bill Gay by only one point. The final score was Thomas – 9 and Bill – 8.

During the 5pm session, Thomas again won the MSA with 11 points, Casey managed to kill the “boar” in the “boar” hunt, Thomas managed to win the melee by acquiring 3 tokens, and Bill won the joust with a 12 point perfect run against Thomas who scored 6 points.

You can see pictures of the tournament on this slideshow published by The Columbus Dispatch.

SUMMARY OF SCORES

NOON SESSION

MSA:
Thomas - 15 pts
Casey - 13 pts
Bill - 11 pts
Patrick - 10 pts

Boar Hunt:
The boar won. (Until Squire Mary “killed” it.)

Melee:
Casey – 4 tokens
Patrick – 1 token

Jousting:
Match 1 - Thomas (7 pts) v. Casey (4 pts), Casey eliminated
Match 2 - Patrick (0 pts) v. Bill (5 pts), Patrick eliminated
Match 3 - Thomas (9pts) v. Bill (8pts), Bill eliminated
Tom wins

5pm SESSION:

MSA:
Thomas - 11 pts
Bill - 8pts
Patrick - 7 pts
Casey - 7pts

Boar Hunt:
Casey kills the “boar”

Melee:
Thomas – 3 tokens
Patrick – 1 token
Bill – 1 token

Joust:
Match 1 - Thomas (7pts) v. Casey (6pts), Casey is eliminated
Match 2 - Patrick (7pts) v. Bill (4pts), Patrick withdraws due to injury, leaving Bill to advance
Match 3 - Thomas (6pts) v. Bill (12pts - perfect run), Thomas is eliminated
Bill wins the joust

Many thanks to Whitney Rowlett Senn for providing information about this tournament.

The Lysts on the Great Lakes Invitational Jousting Tournament

The "Lysts on the Great Lakes" invitational jousting tournament will take place August 10 and 11 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Belleville, Michigan, USA. This event is affiliated with a'Plaisance Ltd, the producer of the largest contemporary competitive jousting tournaments in the world, and is sanctioned by both the International Jousting Association and International Jousting League.

This tournament will be run as both a team and an individual event, and will include both mounted skill at arms(MSA) as well as jousting competitions. The jousting competitions will occur at 4pm on Friday and Saturday, and the MSA will begin at 1pm on Saturday. There will be a public meet and greet on Thursday, August 9, at 4pm during the practice session for all the competitors . The teams portion of the event will consists of the Knights of Iron Jousting Team vs the North American International Jousters Team.

The jousters for the Knights of Iron will be:

L Dale Walter

Dale was one of the first jousters in North America, beginning his career in the early 80's. After a long layoff, Dale returned to the sport in 2010 and jousted 29 days in 2011 across the USA and Canada. It is rumored that he is the “real" Tony Stark of Ironman fame as in addition to wearing a suit of armor, he owns a company that designs and builds military weapons systems. Dale lives in Howell, Michigan on his horse farm The Excalibur Horse Center where he trains his joust team “The Knights of Iron”. Dale's motto is: Aut Viam Inveniam aut Faciam ("I Will Either Find a Way or Make One")
(photo by Jay Baum)



Andre Renier

André Lee Renier began jousting in 1983, allowing him to merge his interests in history, science, and technology with his love of horses. A scholar, researcher and accomplished equestrian; he is a modern knight mixing his passions for history, horses and the games of antiquity. He is currently researching jousting and equestrian armor and working on a book on the history of horse training. Andre is the Director at WEC Institute, one of the nation's leading nonprofit, high tech, science and technology research organizations. Andre's motto is: Noblis in Verbi et Facti ("Noble in Word and Deed")
(photo by Dale Walter)


Kellyn Burtka

Kellyn has been riding and showing horses since childhood, and started her career as a professional trainer in 2000. She has always valued versatility in riding, and has competed in various equestrian sports including jumping, eventing, dressage, western pleasure, barrel racing and driving. She sees jousting as a new and exciting discipline for her and her horse to explore. Kellyn's motto is: Potius Ingenio Quam Vi ("Rather by Skill than by Force")
(photo by AzulOx)



Jason Edwards Monarch

J Edwards Monarch has wanted to be a knight since he was a child. He began this journey with brooms, trash can lids and tin foil cardboard armor at the age of eight. Over the years, he has worked at various Renaissance Festivals and medieval shows, done various sword shows, and started one of the largest LARP games in the mid-west. He is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and of the Ars Gladii western martial arts school. He has jousted professionally and for competition since 1991. He is also a member of the Team USA Battle of the Nations combat team for armored competition. An avid living history buff, he dabbles in almost every time period from the 1st Crusade to the American Civil War. He has appeared in television shows doing technical jousting and teaches European medieval combat arts. He lives in Michigan on a farm with a jousting school, along with his lovely wife, four children, several jousting horses, goats, dogs, cats, chickens and one ornery turkey. His motto is: Polleo Atqui Humilis ("Be Strong Yet Humble")
(photo by Dove Photography LLC)

The North American International Jousters are:

Steve Hemphill

Steve fondly remembers his father teaching him how to respect, train and ride the family’s horses. In the 1980's, he became interested in medieval and renaissance history while he was attending college, and in 2003, Steve decided to renew his interest in horses and to combine it with his love of medieval history. Since then, he has produced and competed in a number of medieval equestrian events around the world which showcased competitive jousting and other medieval equestrian sports. Steve is a member of the Board of Representatives of the International Jousting League and a level 2 Jouster with the International Jousting Association. He is the owner of a’Plaisance, Ltd. and the Executive Producer of the “Lysts on the Lake”. When Steve is not involved with jousting, he can be found competing in Dressage and Eventing. Steve's motto is: Unus sed Leo ("One but a Lion")
(photo by Jay Baum)

Nikki Fourtzialas

Nikki is a member of, and US Liaison to, the International Jousting Association (IJA), a co-founder of the New England Jousting Association (NEJA) and the Academy of Knightly Arts. Nikki competes in events with the IJA, NEJA, Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and International Jousting League (IJL). She rides a 19.1 hand, 8 Year old Percheron named Grassy Notch Thunder Ripper(AKA Thunder), a big horse with a big heart. Professionally she is a desk jockey, Senior V.P. of a technology division for the financial services industry. Jousting and Sword fighting have proven to be great stress management tools in her life. Nikki's motto is: Tu Canis Est, Ut Omnes ("Is That All You Got, Dog")
(photo by The Jousting Life)


Jordon Heron

Jordan Heron has always been fascinated with things medieval, and his involvement in historical re-creation goes back well over three decades. Although interested in horses from a young age, Jordan was city born and raised, so he didn't learn to ride until relatively late in life, when he rashly bought a horse and quickly moved from pleasure riding to medieval gaming. Jordan's first joust tournament was in 2003. Since that time he has competed in seven countries on three continents. Jordan is a certified Project Manager by career, and his partner, Dr. Stephanie Campbell, is an anatomy professor and student veterinarian and they live in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. Together they own Cricket Lane Farm, home to their equestrian activities: gaming, jousting, mounted archery, riding to hounds, quarter horse racing and, just lately, Cowboy Action Shooting.
(photo by Astrid Adelskold)



Dale Gienow

Dale Gienow is the founding president of the International Jousting Association – Canada. He has been jousting since 2004 and has run many tournaments in Canada. Dale enjoys many other medieval pursuits, including archery and the ancient art of falconry. He is a founding member of the Mounted Archery Association of the Americas and a Mounted Martial Instructor for the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts. Dale lives with his son in Bracebridge, Ontario, where he owns the Muskoka Wildlife Centre and co-directs Chivalric Productions, a medieval education company.
(photo by Chivalric Productions)




In an interesting twist, during the MSA competition, the experienced jousters will act as ground crew for the less experienced squires and novices first. Then later, things will go back to normal with the experienced jousters competing while the squires and novices act as the -- so very essential -- ground crew. During the MSA, the jousters will compete wearing jerseys in the colors of their livery with their name on the back. These jerseys will be provided by the tournament.

The tournament will also provide each competitor with an ecranche so that all competitors will have the same size target to aim at. The ecranches will be painted with the competitors colors and will have their names on the front. The lances will be the standard IJA/IJL 8 foot shaped wood base with a 3 foot balsa tip. However, the standard rules have been modified so that points may only be scored if the lance hits the ecranche first -- no primary hit anywhere else will be scored. The scoring will be as follows:

1 point: if the lance hits the target
2 points: if the tip of the lance breaks but remains attached to the rest of the lance
3 points: if the tip of the lance breaks and falls completely off so that the coronel lands on the ground
There will be no points awarded for unhorsings.

Throughout the tournament, broken lance tips will be available in exchange for a donation to The Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund, which assists wounded veterans in the Michigan area.

For updated information on this tournament, check out the "Lysts on the Great Lakes" Facebook event page.

Andre Renier Creates a New Jousting Lance

Andre Renier is an experienced member of the Knights of Iron Joust Team as well as an historical technician. As an historical technician, he basically tries to figure out exactly how things from the past worked and how they were made to work that way. He and the WEC Institute recreated the Maximillian Exploding Armor featured in a previous article on “The Jousting Life”. Recently, he has been working on creating a jousting lance better suited to the modern sport of jousting than the lances that are currently available.


He kindly agreed to be interviewed about developing his new jousting lance:

How long have you been involved in jousting?

Andre: Both L. Dale Walter and I were hired by Michigan Renaissance Festival in 1983 as their first knights along with a guy by the name of Ralph and older man whose name has been lost to history.

How did you become involved in jousting?

Andre: I have always had a love of history and horses. In the early '80's I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival (MRF). I had spent the entire day watching shows. Late in the afternoon SAK Theater did their show. It was the first time I had seen audience participatory theater. I decided right there that I wanted to do that to be part of that kind of theater style. Also, they had no knights. What kind of Renaissance Fair had no knights on horses? So I applied for the next year and was hired. When MRF found out I had horses and was willing to work for $25 a day I became a knight...sort of. Dale was hired in much the same way but with his superior negotiating skills he got $35 a day. At that time we had no script, no idea how to joust, no armor and no one to turn to for guidance. Just a couple of guys with horses. MRF management handed us broomsticks painted black with gray duct tape spiraled down them and told us if we had more than 35 people in the stands we had to do a show.

What led you to decide to create your own jousting lance?

Andre: The Knights of Iron Joust Team may have the world's largest private modern lance collection. We were looking for something that was not on the market. I was challenged to build a lance that had better handling characteristics, was more durable and was easier to operate for beginning riders - a cost effective practice and training lance. I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. We have built 14 different models with 26 minor revisions. Our research and development costs have now exceeded $10,000 not including the costs to design and build the world's only purpose built lance lathes. We now have 5 machines dedicated to making lances and components.

Jousting Lance Prototypes 1, 2 and 3 (photos by Andre Renier)

What historical considerations were involved in the design of the lance?

Andre: We did not set out to recreate a lance from history. However we have learned much from the lances that remain in museums and from historical accounts. We faced the same problems they did. Lances need to do their job while looking good and not breaking the budget. They need to be light yet sturdy. In the past Limewood (similar to American Basswood) was used. It has good strength for its weight and is easily carved. Wood of the Poplar tree is similar. It is slightly more sturdy while being a touch lighter than Basswood. The drawback is that it is a bit harder to carve. Once we settled on a wood we had to develop the machines. Again, we took cues from historical lance lathes. Our machinery is really just high tech versions of what was used 500 years ago. In fact our lance lathes are largely based on images of lance lathes from the period.

Jousting Lance Model 12 prototype and close up (photos by Andre Renier)

What aspects of the design were based on its functionality for contemporary jousting?

Andre: We set out to make a modern lance for the modern joust. We wanted to make something that could be used for practice and would readily accept 1 1/4" balsa tips.

Jousting Lance M-14 with "hidden" ferrule that will accept any 1 1/4" tip

It needed to be something that could be used for years to come and was easy to operate. Also, it needed to be comfortable. We reduced the size of the tail section (the part that goes under the arm). Many riders complained that the early models we made were to thick under the arm. The Model 14 is large enough to put under the arm pit and hold while not being too large to be uncomfortable for most.

Andre Renier holding the M-14 jousting lance under his arm

How much of the design was based solely on practicality? (i.e. cost to manufacture and ship, specific consumer interest, etc...)

Andre: The Model 14 is a completely modern lance. Its design was based on a number of criteria.

It needed to be light. Many of today's jousters are looking for a lance that is lighter in the tip and requires less upper body strength to raise, lower and keep on target.

It needed to offer the consumer a good value for their money. We wanted something that is easy to ship and easy to assemble once it arrives. We ship each lance pre-primer painted with a glue kit so that after unpacking a lance can be completely assembled and ready for final painting in less than 15 minutes. After the glue cures for a day the lance is ready for final painting.

What aspect of creating your lance was the most fun?

Getting the lance into my team mates hands and watching them play. For those who know Dale know that he is quick with a joke and equally quick to laugh at one, but rarely in our nearly 30 years have I seen him grin. After his second pass in a row with the X-13 (Model 13 proto-type) he grinned at me and said, "This is a game changer!"

Jousting Lance Model X-13 prototype (photo by Andre Renier)

What aspect of creating your lance was the most frustrating?

Andre: Weight. We had set a goal of a 5lb. lance "loaded" with a 1 1/4 inch by 36 inch balsa tip and a Historic Enterprises 1 1/4 inch Rubber Cornel. We had to get the weight out of the middle of the lance but retain its strength. 500 years ago they fluted the lances to achieve this. Fluting is expensive and did not achieve our goals. We tried quite a number of novel solutions including a carbon fiber lance tube. Carbon fiber composite lances are awesome but very expensive. We finally went back to a lance designed and built by L. Dale Walter in the 80's. It was still around in the attic of my garage. We used the midsection of that lance as the inspiration for the Model 12, Model 13, and Model 14. We were able to achieve a "loaded" weight of 4.5 lbs., one half pound lighter than our goal.

Did anything particularly amusing happen during the process of making your lance?

Andre: We initially thought that we wanted the balance point of the lance to be close to the front of the grip. With a lance balanced right at your index finger you feel no tip weight. We thought, "Why, we have created the perfect lance." On the first test run I happily had my new lance in hand. I asked my horse Riley for a nice slow canter. As I passed the quintain my lance was still vertical. I realized the error. A lance that is balanced so close to the grip requires that you consciously push the lance tip down. Riders who tested it found they didn't like it all. Most notably the lighter riders found that they had to use a fair amount of strength to rotate the tip down instead of just "dropping" the tip.

Is there anything else you would like to say about the lance?

Andre: The Model 14 Lance is a modern lance for the modern joust. It is designed to be easier to operate, to allow for easier rotation and easier target acquisition. It is also designed to be easier to disengage after tip break. It has a tail compartment that allows for weights to be added. This allows for customization of the balance point. The tail section can be easily modified for riders with "angel wing" armor or for riders who prefer a shorter tail section.

Andre Renier holding the M-14 jousting lance

Who would you like to thank for inspiring and/or helping you to design and create your lance?

Andre: We would like to thank the Knights of Iron Joust Team for all the help throughout the process and Dale Walter for challenging me to build a vision and testing each of the successes and failures. I must also thank Sam Matyas and Kellyn Burtka for their insight, and honesty throughout the process. And Jason Monarch for cheering the innovations and assisting in determining how and why we had failures. Finally I'd like to thank Matthew Mansour for taking a chance on these new lances and putting them in his show.

When and where will your lances be available for purchase by the general public?

Andre: Our lances are now available for purchase through www.tiltandtack.com with ALL profits being donated to equestrian safety research.

Jouster Andre Renier Creates and Tests Replica of 16th Century Exploding Armour

Jouster and historical technician Andre Renier is featured in this excerpt from the show "Museum Secrets" that will be airing on History Television Canada. He and others are trying to recreate the "exploding armor" used in 16th century jousting tournaments to make the hits more dramatic.



Another excerpt from the show that focuses on how it feels to wear the armour:

"Words cannot express my gratitude for all of those who helped make this production of the Maximilian Exploding Armor possible.

On behalf of the WEC Institute and the crew of History TV's "Museum Secrets" I would like to thank the Knights of Iron, Excalibur Horse Center, Speedcult, Van Buren Steel, and so many more that put in so much time and effort to make this a reality.

A personal thank you to Dana Juretich, Samantha Matyas, Kellyn Burtka, J Edwards Monarch, and Kimber Spahr for each playing a vital role in making this vision a reality and keeping me safe." -- Andre Renier

Andre Renier is one of the owners of The Tilt and Tack Shoppe, an equestrian supply store which donates its profits to charitable organizations that research ways to improve equestrian sports safety.