Andre Renier Wins "The Grand Tournament of St Charles"

This past weekend, August 17 & 18, as part of the "Festival of the Horse and Drum", there was an International Jousting League and International Jousting Association-USA sanctioned international jousting tournament referred to as "The Grand Tournament of St Charles". There were a total of eight competitors including three competitors who are ranked among the top five jousters in the world according to the International Jousting League. One of those top five ranked jousters is Andre Renier, who earned good scores during the competition, but won the championship based on the votes given to him by the participants in the tournament (including the jousters, ground crew, Lady of Honour and Impresario). It was not only his jousting skills, but also his chivalry and willingness to help anyone with anything that earned him the title of Grand Champion of the tournament.

Here is a short clip of Andre Renier on his Percheron gelding, Chevy, jousting against Steve Hemphill -- another one of the top five jousters in the world -- on his Friesian cross mare, Tinkerbell.

Andre Renier jousts Steve Hemphill(video by The Jousting Life)

Andre's other jousting horse, the Percheron gelding Riley -- whom he loaned to Australian jouster Sarah Hay for the tournament -- was chosen as the Champion Horse of the tournament.

Andre Renier and his award winning Percheron gelding Riley (photo by The Jousting Life)

Sarah Hay, who is also among the top five highest ranked jousters in the world, riding Andre's horse Riley, earned the most points during the tilting portion of the competition (what most people think of when they think of jousting). A video of her tilting against Stacy Wasson was featured in an earlier post.

Sarah Hay riding Riley during the Friday practice before the tournament began
(photo by The Jousting Life)

Steve Hemphill, on his quarterhorse gelding Lucky, won the mounted melee portion of the tournament.

Steve Hemphill with his two horses, Tinkerbell(left) and Lucky(right)(photo by The Jousting Life)

Stacy Wasson, riding the Azteca stallion Solovino(for whom this was his first experience jousting) and Sarah Hay, riding Riley, tied for first in the Mounted Skill at Arms(MSA) portion of the tournament.

Stacy Wasson riding Solovino on the last day of the tournament (photo by The Jousting Life)

You can see video of Stacy's MSA-course ride in an earlier post. Here is video of Sarah Hay's MSA-course ride.

Sarah Hay riding Riley in the MSA-course (video by The Jousting Life)

More pictures and video from the tournament will be posted on The Jousting Life YouTube channel and The Jousting Life Facebook page over the next week or so.

The jousters and crew of "The Grand Tournament of St Charles"(photo by The Jousting Life)

You can see more pictures from the tournament in "The Jousting Life" Facebook page albums:

Festival of the Horse & Drum 2013 Friday Practice

Grand Tournament of St Charles 2013 - Saturday Jousting

Grand Tournament of St Charles 2013 - Sunday Jousting

Mounted Skill at Arms at the Festival of the Horse and Drum

The girls ruled during the Mounted Skill at Arms (MSA) competition this Saturday which was part of "The Grand Tournament of St Charles" which took place at the "Festival of the Horse and Drum" in St. Charles, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. Both Sarah Hay and Stacy Wasson had excellent runs. Here is a video of Stacy Wasson's run of the MSA course.

Stacy Wasson runs the MSA course(video by The Jousting Life)

You can find out more about the festival at the "Festival of the Horse and Drum" website.

Happy IIWTBAKD3!

Happy International I Want To Be Arne Koets Day 3! A day when everyone celebrates the person that everyone apparently wants to be. It was inspired by a fellow on Facebook who posted a picture of Arne Koets jousting and claimed that it was a picture of himself. In honor/parody of that guy, every August 17, people submit pictures of themselves (or whoever/whatever) with Arne Koets' face superimposed on the image in some way. Here are a few pictures that have already been submitted this year:

You can find out more about IIWTBAKD on the Facebook event page.

Practicing for the "Festival of the Horse & Drum"

A short video of one of the practice runs on Friday in preparation for the jousting tournament which will be held as part of the "Festival of the Horse & Drum" in St. Charles, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The festival is Saturday and Sunday, August 17 & 18, 2013. In this video, Australian jouster Sarah Hay tilts against US jouster Stacy Wasson.

Sarah Hay jousts Stacy Wasson (video by The Jousting Life)

You can find out more about the festival on the "Festival of the Horse & Drum" website.

Random Pic: Getting the Right Shot

Jouster (and videographer?) Steve R. Gagnon makes sure this video camera gets the right shot at the "Arundel Castle International Jousting Tournament"

Steve R. Gagnon works the video camera(photo by Richard Pearn)