Pictures Showing the Process of Creating a Historical Saddle

Jezz Smith, a jouster from New Zealand, also makes saddles based on historical designs. Here are a series of pictures, taken by him, showing the process of making a historical saddle. Jezz Smith's saddles are very similar to the saddles made by Joram van Essen and Wouter Nicolai that were discussed in the two part article, "Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles" written by Arne Koets.

There are actually two different saddles shown in various stages of creation. However, the saddles are similar enough that, for the purpose of displaying the process of making a historical saddle, it doesn't matter that pictures from the making of two different saddles are used.

The template for the side bars of the saddle. The side bars are the part of the saddle that actually rests on the sides of the horse.(photo by Jezz Smith)

The laminating frame is used to create the curves necessary for the saddle to fit the horse's back.(photo by Jezz Smith)

A side view of the laminating frame(photo by Jezz Smith)

The side bar is clamped(and screwed when you run out of clamps) to the laminating frame. The screw holes will be filled in later.(photo by Jezz Smith)

Four layers of 3mm plywood glued with polycarbonate laminating glue(photo by Jezz Smith)

You can see where extra blocking can be added to the laminating frame to alter it to fit different horses.(photo by Jezz Smith)

From top to bottom: The pieces used to create the cantle(back), pommel(front) and side bars of the saddle(photo by Jezz Smith)

The pieces are temporarily glued together for a fitting(photo by Jezz Smith)

Another view of the pieces clamped and glued together(photo by Jezz Smith)

Checking to make sure the saddle fits the horse(photo by Jezz Smith)

Rear view of the saddle on the horse(photo by Jezz Smith)

Side view of the saddle on the horse(photo by Jezz Smith)

Checking to see if the saddle fits the rider,Simon Paul Tennant. According to Jezz, the cantle needed to be moved forward about an inch.(photo by Jezz Smith)

After adjusting the cantle, the pommel and cantle are permanently glued into place, and the pieces making up the seat are added(photo by Jezz Smith)

A top view of the seat pieces glued into place(photo by Jezz Smith)

After the glue dries, the seat pieces are sanded into a smooth shape, and strap placement is checked(photo by Jezz Smith)

The saddle is covered in black resin(photo by Jezz Smith)

Another view of the black resin covered saddle(photo by Jezz Smith)

According to Jezz and others who use this style of saddle, padding for the seat is not necessary, though the seat and other parts of the saddle can be covered in leather. Decoration can also be added to suit the owner of the saddle.

Related articles:
Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part One

Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part Two

An Interview with Joram van Essen: Grand Champion of "The Grand Tournament in Sankt Wendel"

Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part Two

Written by: Arne Koets
Edited by: Zhi Zhu

Continued from: Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part One


The historic war saddles created by Joram van Essen and Wouter Nicolai have become our favourite saddles. In my personal case, the saddle that Joram made for my horse Maximilian has been instrumental in some of the more ambitious dressage training, as it helped my seat to such an extent that the horse went much better under it than any other saddle.

Arne Koets and Joram van Essen demonstrate mounted combat using their historic war saddles(video by Ben van Koert/Kaos Historical Media)

The saddles seem much smaller than you would expect for either the man or the horse, yet they fit very well. This is one of the reasons most people working from photographs make the reproductions much too big. Having said that, some of the original saddles were for some very narrow (and/or small) horses. For instance, I myself am 193cm(apx 6' 4") tall, yet my saddle has a seat length of about 34 cm, (just over 13”), and when measured in the same way as a modern saddle, potentially less, yet it works fine, even with armour.

Arne Koets sits in his historic war saddle on his Andalusian gelding Maximilian at Nyborg 2013
(photo by Isis Sturtewagen)

When riding in these war saddles, the leg is really close to the horse, as the upper leg is not impeded by a broad tree or lots of padding and leather, yet the surface area in contact with the horse is large. According to Wouter Nicolai:

"A large contact surface means that the weight of the rider is divided over a much larger area, making it easier, and more comfortable for the horse to carry the (armoured) rider. This is especially true when a rider gets hit and transfers part of the force of impact to the horse (in the joust for example). In that situation, the historic war saddle is more efficient than any modern saddle to keep the horse safe from excessive pressure on the back.

Looking carefully at the shape of medieval saddle, one will notice that the contact surface is especially large at the back section of the saddle; this is where the force of impact to a rider who gets hit is transferred to. A second purpose of the larger contact surface, is to keep the saddle in place and prevent it from shifting to the side. This is essential, because no saddle should ever press directly on the spine of a horse. I think it is fair to say that the large contact surface, especially at the back of the saddle is one of, if not the most important feature of a late medieval war saddle." -- Wouter Nicolai

Furthermore, the solid seat is relatively narrow in front, allowing a slightly better angle of the rider's femur. Also, the slope of the front of the seat is such as to roll the riders hips back so as to sit in the center of gravity. In addition, the cantle is positioned to keep the center of gravity in the correct spot for the horses' anatomy.

The front section of the boards comes down quite a lot, yet less then it looks like in photos of the originals when seen on display. This means that the front Arçon plate comes down the leg and provides support and helps (again) to open the hip, even better then modern dressage saddles hold the rider.

Arne Koets sits in his historic war saddle on his Andalusian gelding Maximilian at Bexbach 2012
(photo by Franziska Schatek)

When done correctly, the support around the front of the saddle allows mounting from the ground, even with no girth, without the saddle rocking precariously -- mounting from a step is always better for the horse -- but it is possible. Both front and back tree come down the sides of the horse, and they support the saddle in an impact so it does not rotate horizontally and thereby hurt the horse's loins.

Once Joram had his ‘little’ breakthrough, and we started riding with the saddles, there were several things that surprised me:

• how well the horses go under these saddles in bending exercises (shoulder-in, haunches-in, Half-pass, etc)
• how easy it is to fit the saddle to different horses
• how often I have seen horses go MUCH better under these saddles then treeless and dressage saddles
• how much it tends to improve a riders' seat and thereby his ability to ride harder exercises
• how much MORE knee action the horses offer (these saddles have adequate shoulder freedom, but particularly encourage the rider to sit more 'collecting' thereby giving greater freedom to the horse to throw his legs out from the driving back leg.
• how comfortable they are, in particular in armour on long rides
• how much better armour works in them:
• The front allows much better interaction with the tassets and fauld.
• The armour is MUCH more quiet, both in terms of 'Tasset flap' and 'mail scratch'.
• The leg lies much better. The cuisse can be pushed out by broad saddles, like Portuguese saddles, meaning that leg use in armour is almost impossible sometimes, whereas in these saddles one forgets one wears armour.
• how little the 'high' arçon plate impedes the rein hand, because it is not just bolted onto a saddle, thereby sitting much closer to the belly of the rider.

These saddles are very short, overall, and thereby fit the short coupled horses we prefer quite well, yet many short modern saddles dig into the back. When they have a straight back edge it is clear, but with a dressage saddle it is less apparent but equally true. If you think about a dressage saddle, it is shaped like a rider's bum, yet the medieval saddle is shaped like the horse's loin.

One of the final pieces to the puzzle was how to make sure you could fold back onto the horse, or put all your weight back, yet not dig into the horse's loin. This allows very deliberate use of the seat which helps a lot in more collected work.

The back and 'ears' of Arne's historic war saddle sit under his maille skirt(breyette) allowing close contact between his seat and his saddle(photo by Asa Cidh)

These war saddles work better for taller horses (15-16 hands or potentially larger) as opposed to the raised seat saddles, which to me seem conceived for smaller horses. The much lower (but still narrow) seat allows much closer feeling of the seat to the horse -- both more feedback and more opportunity for aids. This would fit well with the archeological record which shows Dutch finds of male horses of up to 161cm(apx 15.3 hands) height in a context of the siege of Utrecht in the second half of the fifteenth century, much(inches) taller than most evidence seems to point to in earlier periods.

What is also surprising is how light these saddles are, (and how light un-armoured original examples are), they are generally less than half the weight of a regular GP[general purpose, in the US an AP(all purpose)] saddle, which is a nice bonus as we are already adding up quite a lot of weight with large riders and heavy armour with regards to the horses’ carrying capabilities.

After this little rant it must be said that although I myself have been involved in the research, most credit must go to Joram van Essen and Wouter Nicolai with their repeated attempts and dogged determination to reproduce viable saddles with which to make these experiences, and in particular Joram's breakthrough in 2011, when all of the major problems disappeared in quick succession.

Arne Koets and Joram van Essen joust at Sankt Wendel 2012(photo by Hanno van Harten)

Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part One

Written by: Arne Koets
Edited by: Zhi Zhu

Over the last 15 years our loose band of jousting brothers, including Joram van Essen, Wouter Nicolai and myself among others, have been doing research and conducting various experiments regarding Medieval and Renaissance saddles and their use in contemporary jousting and mounted combat.

At first we mostly experimented with modified cavalry saddles of various kinds. These experiments gave rise to problems as the proportions were clearly wrong. All sorts of problems arose as a result of these modified saddles looking all right but being grossly out of proportion. This included the Royal Armouries ‘facsimile’ saddles, as we started to call them.

Later, we got the opportunity to examine and measure a number of historic saddles:  the 'Elfenbein' saddle in the Royal Armouries,

Saddle VI.95, 'Elfenbein' saddle, 'riding' style, 15th century Hungarian saddle, in the Royal Armouries(photo from Royal Armouries)

the saddles in the Wallace collection, including the A21 when it was off display,

Equestrian Armour A21, featuring a 'war' saddle, in the Wallace Collection
(photo from The Wallace Collection)

the Arundel saddle and others. Various actual re-creations of these saddles were attempted over time.

The first attempts were mostly based around the raised seat concept of the so called ‘Henry V’ saddle and the Madrid saddle. The 'Henry V' saddle has an iron bar supporting the seat much like the wooden parts of the tree in Hohenzeug saddles(the saddles with the huge shields built into the fronts). Though there is some doubt as to whether this feature is original, it has shown to have some interesting effects.

The Henry V funeral saddle, in Westminster Abbey Museum(photo from Westminster Abbey)

Due to raising the seat, the weight of the rider acts as a lever, so that when any seat aid is applied, it is amplified. Unfortunately, it means that unbalanced riders are more detrimental to their horses. This is why I tend to call this style ‘the curb bit of saddles’.

This style of saddle does help greatly to get a good lower leg connection with the horse, especially when riding smaller horses. The raised seat makes it much easier for men over 180cm(apx 6') tall(not uncommon for nobility of the period, as archeological evidence from grave sites clearly shows) to ride horses under 15 hands high(so common in medieval times). However, the rider does lose the contact between the horse and the rider's inner thigh, meaning that the rider must depend more on the effect of the bit. Of course, guiding a horse using only the bit can be done to a high degree, as long rein work from classical dressage(and higher driving dressage, for that matter) clearly shows.

The style of riding necessitated by the raised seat saddle seems to be what Duarte describes in his treatise as the 'Third Style' of riding -- "those who ride firm and erect on the stirrups" -- frequently referred to as the 'a la brida' style of riding. This style of riding is commonly depicted, in particular in the second half of the 14th and the first quarter of the 15th century, but other styles of riding and saddles are also depicted throughout this time period.

Dr. Tobias Capwell riding 'a la brida' in a raised seat saddle(photo by unknown)

However, many problems arose when we experimented with these raised seat saddles. They were uncomfortable, they could shift on the horses’ backs as a result of impact or imbalance, they were hard to fit, etc...So we decided that this style of saddle was not optimal for what we were trying to do and looked for other historic styles of saddles that might work better.

Two other styles of saddles that looked interesting enough to experiment with were what we came to call the ‘riding’ saddles and the ‘war' saddles of 'Bravante' style. Based on the description in Dom Duarte's treatise, we interpreted the ‘Bravante’ saddles to mean saddles similar in shape to the A21 saddle (which is a 16th century example) and one of the Vienna saddles(which is clearly datable to the middle of the 15th century, see photo below). The terms 'riding' and 'war' might be ambiguous, but they are at least descriptive.

We called the saddles with 'ears' enveloping the hips more extensively ‘war saddles’.

'Elfenbein' saddle, 'war' style, in the Kunst Historisches Museum Vienna
(photo by Andrea Carloni(Rimini))

The ‘riding’ saddles are the saddles shaped like all but two of the ‘Elfenbein’ saddles, (which are actually not covered in ivory, as the German term suggests, but bone).

'Elfenbein' saddle A408, 'riding' style, in The Wallace Collection
(photo from The Wallace Collection)

It has to be noted that there are depictions of the ‘riding’ saddles being used in war, both by half armoured (fairly common) and fully armoured (fairly uncommon) men, and also for jousting. Also, the 'war' saddles are depicted being used for civilian purposes by riders in plain clothes, as in one of of the Schilling Chronicles (Tschachtlanchronik of 1470). However, the numbers are very skewed towards their named uses.

Bearing in mind medieval issues of logistics, it makes perfect sense that a saddle was generally transported by the animal it was meant to be worn by. Therefore one had to make do with what one had at hand. Also, it seems reasonable that some fighters only could afford a 'riding' saddle and not an additional 'war' saddle, which would explain why depictions of the half armoured fighters make up 1/3 of the depictions of 'riding' saddles.

Both these saddle types derive from the same side board layout, however, and both types are made as continual composite blocks of wood.

Many pieces of wood are combined to form the composite that creates the saddle's form
(photo by Joram van Essen)

(Although the later 16th century examples of these war saddles are made of just the side boards with the seat shape made of felt, covered in leather… and they are just as hard to the touch.)

This side board layout is where the plot thickens:  the side boards are an inverted u-shape. Meaning that the side boards are comparatively narrow in the middle, but much wider in the front and back of the saddle, ‘drooping’ down the sides of the horse.

The side boards are the parts of the saddle that form an inverted U against the sides of the horse and that support the seat of the saddle(photo by Arne Koets)

This is similar to the shape of the cushions on Iberian saddles, yet, unlike the Iberian saddles, this shape is actually part of the trees in these historic saddles, and thereby interact with the horse in different ways.

Most professional saddlers we initially talked to took one look at the photos and immediately (by misinterpreting the scale) assumed that these saddle boards would restrict the horse very badly. The professionals shied away from the project in droves. It was the work some re-enactors -- Robert McPherson among others -- did in attempting to re-create these historic saddles that made real contributions to our understanding of what we were looking at when we handled the originals.

Based on the information gathered from historic sources and contemporary re-enactors, Joram van Essen and Wouter Nicolai made a plethora of experimental saddles with varying levels of success. Unlike other re-enactors who were trying to incorporate modern saddlery into historic looking saddles, Joram and Wouter were much more ambitious about their experiments and goals of historical correctness, trying to make their saddles as close to the originals as possible. What was learned from these initial reproductions led to the development of ergonomic and effective saddles that are not only historical, but also ergonomic to the horse and rider.

Joram and Wouter's historically based saddles will be discussed further in:
Re-Creating Medieval and Renaissance Saddles: Part Two

A New Kind of Frangible Lance Tip: Spiral Cut Pine Tips

The following article was written by Callum Forbes of the Order of the Boar:

At the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” (in New Zealand), we tested new spiral cut pine tips in our lances instead of using the traditional length-wise cut balsa tips. Balsa is on a protected species list and is becoming more expensive. This adds significantly to the costs of jousting. Because of this we started looking for alternatives to balsa tips.

When I was in Belgium at "Hackaland 2011", Fred Piraux showed me a video of a tip design made of European ‘yellow pine’ which a wood-turning friend of his had suggested to him. Fred tested several prototypes which broke well on a static quintain and very kindly gave me a fragment of one as a sample to take back home. It is essentially a solid dowel with a spiral cut down most of its length with a router bit.

Pictures of Fred Piraux's spiral cut pine lance tips, intact(above) and broken(below)
(photos by Frederic Piraux)

Dave Smith, our announcer at all of our jousting events in New Zealand, built a rig to allow mass production of these tips and made several prototypes for me from pinus radiata, which is a widely used forestry timber in New Zealand. It is cheap and is also a renewable timber.

We tested two spiral cut tip designs late last year. One had a deeper cut and one a shallower cut. Both broke very well on tests against our ‘shock’ quintain, but when I had them tested with me as the target, people had trouble getting a good shattering effect with the shallower cut ones. So I commissioned Dave to make 200 of the deeper cut tips for our “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” last February.

Tournament Tip showing the form of the spirals. We paint all of our tips in one of two colours to make judging easier and also to make the tip the same colour as the colours we use on our lances so that they are not so obvious as inserts to the public.(photo by Callum Forbes)

Because the pine tip weighs 3 – 4 times as much as a balsa equivalent and because it is more rigid, you have to hit more accurately than balsa to get them to shatter correctly. By this I mean you have to hit square on. With balsa, because it flexes a bit more then pine, you can hit at a bit of an angle and still get a good shattering effect. With pine tips, the problem is that it is easier for the lance to deflect off the target at an unpredictable angle. By encouraging people to hit more accurately (i.e., square on), this risk is mitigated to some extent.

During the actual joust, when people hit hard and accurately, we had spectacular breaks that were louder than balsa. We also got multiple fragmentation, and the fragments flew further into the air (and into the crowd!) than balsa.

Andrew McKinnon from Australia takes a hit at "Harcourt Park 2013" showing tip fragmentation in action(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

In hindsight, the tips were cut too deeply, and although they hit harder than balsa, a few people thought they were a bit too easy. We also had a teething issue in that our timber supplier sent us dowels in 2 diameters – 30mm and 32mm – and the 30mm dowels were a little too easy to break. But when introducing something new into the joust, it pays to err on the side of caution. Regardless, everybody thought the new tips were a major step forward.

We did test some prototype shallower cut tips at the tournament in front of the public as a demonstration. They broke very well, and the riders felt the impact a lot more. So the consensus is that we use these tips at future international events like "Harcourt Park", and we plan to use them at our next big international tournament which is planned for February 2014 at another location in New Zealand.

Overall these tips were a great success as I wanted a tip that broke harder than balsa without the splintering that you get from balsa tips. Because people are cutting the balsa length-wise (although I have also recently seen this done with pine) the balsa tip splinters into sharp shards. However, with the spiral cut, the pine tips break blunt so there is no chance of a splinter entering an eye slit or finding a weak spot in armour.

You can see the blunt ends left on both the broken piece and the remaining portion of the lance tip after the spiral cut pine tip broke off of Sarah Hay's lance during this rare tip to tip hit.
(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

From the cost point-of-view, the spiral cut pine tips also worked out as being a bit cheaper than the last batch of balsa we brought.

I would like to acknowledge Frederic Piraux from Belgium as the designer of these tips, and my manufacturer Dave Smith of Dannevirke, New Zealand for making our local prototypes and production tips.

Callum Forbes
Order of the Boar, New Zealand
www.jousting.co.nz

You can see more pictures, video and information about the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” in the following articles:

Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Andreas Wenzel: Jouster at “The Grand Tournament in Sankt Wendel”

This Friday, August 31, is the first day of the “Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel” which will run through Sunday, September 2. Andreas Wenzel, who will be one of the jousters in this prestigious tournament, kindly took the time to answer several questions about his involvement in the competition.

Andreas Wenzel(photo from Pat Patrick)

According to the “Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel” website:

To experience what the medieval warrior has experienced has been Andreas’ aim for more than ten years. This has lead him to study the sabre at one of Germany’s oldest fencing clubs, learn and teach the art of sword play through all medieval periods, learn how to ride horses, and train with axes, hammers, glaives and bills.

After moving from Franconian Aschaffenburg to England, Andreas became part of Destrier – Europe’s leading medieval mounted display team – jousted with solid lances, and commanded a cavalry unit at Europe’s largest battle re-enactment at Hastings 2006.

Andreas participates in tournaments and competitions all over the world. His most important successes include the individual championship at the "Tournament of the Phoenix 2010" in San Diego, California, USA and the team championship at the Tournois du Lys d'Argent 2011 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

How did you become involved with the “Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel”(GTSW)?

GTSW is organized and directed by Arne Koets, who is a good friend and long-time comrade-in-arms to me. I first met him at a show in Holland when starting out on the jousting circuit in 2005. He was my partner for the first outing of the Imperial Jousting Team at "Arundel Castle 2009", and we were team mates representing the Old World at the "Tournois Du Lys d’Argent" in Quebec last year. It is my impression that Arne took great care when selecting the initial GTSW team, so I was immensely honoured when he involved me and several other Destrier team members at the very beginning of the GTSW project.

What changes have you made in your equipment in preparation for the GTSW?

Six of the jousters will be competing in a joust of peace, using either specific Gestech harness or modified field harness with frogmouth helmets or grand bascinets with tilting visors. I however am one of two competitors who will be participating in a joust of war, i.e. using regular field harness without special modification to the helmet. Therefore the modifications I had to make to my regular gear are fairly minor.

I have commissioned an arret (lance rest) for my cuirass, which was a piece I was missing as we don’t usually use these when jousting with balsa tips. For solid lance jousting however an arret is indispensable. I have picked a German hinged arret design from a 1470s effigy, and am very pleased with how it turned out.

The hand icon is pointing at the arret(photo from Andreas Wenzel[modified by TJL])

I have also sourced a larger and much heavier jousting shield, as they are typically used for historic solid lance jousting nowadays. The shape and size for this is based on a late 15th century German original from Marburg, which is pretty close to my home town of Aschaffenburg.

Andreas Wenzel with large German jousting shield(photo from Andreas Wenzel)

What kind of specific training or practice have you done in preparation for the GTSW?

The GTSW project is heavily influenced by Arne’s work at the Prince’s Court Riding School in Bueckeburg(Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg), which is arguably the centre for baroque haute ecole horsemanship in Germany. Arne has managed to secure the Court Riding Master, Wolfgang Krischke, to support the project, and several of the horses at St. Wendel are top shots from Bueckeburg or have been trained there. So the standard of horsemanship we are aspiring to is astronomical, and has had to be the absolute focus for everybody’s preparation.

Hofreitmeister(Riding Master) Wolfgang Krischke on Olymp, a Knabstrupper stallion that will be one of the horses in the tournament (photo by Neils Stappenbeck)

My first exposure to this was a weekend workshop organized at Dominic Sewell’s yard (Historic Equitation) in England last year, where Arne and Wolfgang met the UK-based competitors and their horses for some initial training. Being schooled by Wolfgang, and then seeing him ride some of Dom’s most challenging horses, was, and I am not understating, a profound revelation for me.

I think everybody in the team has made at least one pilgrimage to Bueckeburg to get a better feeling for what the Riding School is about. I did this early this year, and was frankly blown away by the incredible capability of the horses and the riders at the place. I was privileged to be given lessons by Wolfgang Krischke himself and Court Schooling Rider Rebecca Güldenring on a selection of horses in the frame for GTSW – an experience which transformed my approach to riding horses profoundly.

I left Bueckeburg that time with my horse’s name on paper for GTSW and a list of issues to work on back in England. I then booked myself a large number of private longing lessons with intent to remedy a few physical training issues (lower back flexibility) and re-balance my seat – all as per Wolfgang’s instructions. When I returned to Bueckeburg for a second weekend of lessons, I was able to ride my designated horse in armour for the first time and break my first lances while riding him.

So, as you can see, the focus of preparation has been on horsemanship. I am not alone here – some of the other competitors have spent far more time at Bueckeburg than I have, using this exceptional resource to school themselves and their horses for GTSW.

Tell me the name of and a little about your history/relationship with the horse you will be riding in the GTSW.

I will be riding Sigismund, a Spanish stallion stabled at the Court Riding School in Bueckeburg, but owned by Arne Koets. Sigismund is still in his earlier training stages at Bueckeburg, and does not yet have the athletic capabilities and repertoire of a fully trained baroque show horse. However, I know him as immensely willing, incredibly bright and talented, and BY FAR capable enough to push my horsemanship to and beyond its limits. I am hugely proud and honoured to be trusted with him for the tournament, and will do my very best to not embarrass him.

What part of the GTSW are you most nervous about?

I have been part of the Destrier pro team which pioneered historic solid lance jousting with Gestech harnesses in 2008 and 2009 for English Heritage. As a result I am not feeling too worried about the prospect of using solid lances and sharp steel coronels – although I do of course retain a healthy respect for the dangers of what we’re about to do.

Steel coronels from unfinished(right) to finished(left) by Red Hart Reproductions
(photo by Luke Binks)

I am definitely most nervous about riding Sigismund well – riding a horse as sensitive and highly schooled as he is, while having to cope with field harness, a solid lance jousting shield and arret will be a tremendous challenge. GTSW has been specifically advertised to the horse community in Germany, which is very critical – not a forgiving environment.

Also, despite all my show and competition experience worldwide, I have never actually ridden a horse in a show in my home country. Let alone a highly trained Spanish stallion. In full armour. During a solid lance joust.

What are you most looking forward to at the GTSW?

GTSW will be a real medieval tournament. There are no shortcuts, no stops to be pulled out. It’s the real thing in every respect for the first time since the 16th century. That is what I always wanted to do – it’s the fulfillment of a dream. It is a unique opportunity, and being one of ten people world-wide to be given the opportunity to participate in this is simply mind-blowing. I will need almost every martial skill I have ever learned – it’s like the end-game, the culmination of 15 years in medieval re-enactment and martial arts. Whatever happens, I expect this to be one of the key experiences in my life. We will tread the paths our forefathers walked, behold the sights they saw, do the deeds they did.

Andreas Wenzel (photo from Facebook)

To learn more about "The Grand Tournament in Sankt Wendel", check out their website which includes both a German version and an English version.

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.