The geese are flying overhead, the days are getting shorter and the horses' coats are getting longer. But that won't keep us out of the saddle! In fact, our Mounted Combat weather luck has reasserted itself, and we had an absolutely gorgeous balmy day for riding and swinging swords last Sunday. However, there are a…
Until this weekend we had an unbroken streak of good weather for Mounted Combat. In the two years we've been running the Mounted Combat workshops we've had stunningly good weather, with maybe a sprinkle of rain at the beginning or end of the day. However, when our weather luck failed, it failed spectacularly, and chose…
With just a few days left till Carosella 2013, here are the logistics, and some practical tips to help you make the most of your weekend. Getting There All the activities happen at Red Colt Equestrian Farm Co-op, at 12320 No 2 Road, Richmond, south of Steveston Hwy, at the junction of Andrews. Bus: take…
Read More... from The Carosella Companion: your guide to the weekend
Sunday September 29th is the Tournament portion of Carosella. There will be competitions for every level of participant, and plenty to watch for the general public. Here's the low-down. Grooms' Competition Open to: Anyone with their own or a leased horse Cavaliere Program members with a minimum of Horsemanship 1 Format: Teams of two will compete…
Greetings everyone, This week I am in Chicago preparing for the Western Martial Arts Workshop in Racine, Wisconsin. This is a superb Western Martial Arts event put on by the Chicago Swordplay Guild and is one of the oldest running events of its kind in the world. This week in our classes…
With just over two weeks till Carosella 2013, I'm taking a break from our stroll through the Riding 2 Curriculum to feature some of the cool stuff you won't want to miss on the 27th - 29th of this month. Friday 27 September This day exists in the schedule to help you get the most…
Greetings everyone to the first fine week of September. This past weekend many Academie Duello members as well as friends from abroad including Paul Wagner of the Stoccata School of Defence in Australia and Samantha Swords from New Zealand joined in the annual Cascadia North Accolade Tournament. This year the event took place on the…
I have finally managed to come down a bit more to earth since my return home from the Cascadia North Accolade Tournament this past weekend. Of course in classic Devon style, on the day of my return I went to the school, completely unloaded our trailers and trucks, headed home to do the same, then…
Read More... from Home from Cascadia North Accolade Tournament
This is the time where the long spring and summer of training comes together for our annual Knightly Games Tournament. And if you haven't been riding and training as much as you'd like or feel you ought to have been, September is the chance to get that last push in while the weather's good, sign…
The last week has been an interesting week in Western Martial Arts. The Audatia sword fighting card game being spearheaded by Guy Windsor of the Helsinki Sword School has well surpassed its funding target on IndieGoGo and is into some cool stretch targets. This project is absolutely worth funding so I recommend you follow the link and…
Read More... from Duello.TV for this Week and a Few Updates on the World of WMA
Riding Level II: Single-handed Transitions and Turns As you progress through your riding for mounted combat you will eventually want to be able to guide your horse without reins. In the interim, you will do most of your fighting with one hand on the reins. At level two we check on your ability to guide…
A couple of our instructors have been highlighted online in the last week, though in two quite different forums. Jennifer Landels was asked by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward to do some writing about herself to accompany a beautiful photograph he took of her around the time of the Shakespeare's Rebel event. It's gracefully written and gives you…
Read More... from A peek inside the world of two Duello instructors
Don't miss our next round of Beginner's Courses, starting the first week of September! Whether you join our Taste of the Renaissance or our Warrior Fundamentals program, prepare to get a unique workout that engages both your mind and body. Take it from student Tris H, who found the classes so valuable that she immediately…
Classes are cooking along at Academie Duello this week. One thing I have been excited about in Vancouver is the increasing number of women in our programs. We have always had a good ratio of men and women but in last night's Green Cord portion of class we had 12 students and only 2 of…
Riding Level 2: Regaining the stirrups In Riding Level 1 we asked you to drop your stirrups and retake them at the walk. In level 2, you'll be asked to: 6. Drop stirrups at sitting trot and regain at walk There's not much I can say about regaining the stirrups that hasn't already been covered…
Some cool spots about Academie Duello showed up in a couple publications in the last two weeks. Patrick von Stolk of Briefed.ca an online men's magazine focusing on the Vancouver area came in and tried out Warrior Fundamentals last week. Briefed is beginning a new series of articles on fitness in the Vancouver area that's…
Riding Level 2: Basic Seat Position I harp on it because it's so important. Everything you want to do on board a horse is so much easier when you start with good position. For Riding level 2 we want to see: 5. Basic seat position: walk & trot, sitting & rising with correct diagonal This…
Hello Everyone, This has got to be one of my favourite weeks in our Mastery program curriculum but I'm a complete subtleties geek and I love the rapier -- a weapon that is all about subtleties. In Green Cord (level 1) we're using the cut to stringere the opponent's weapon (perhaps the least subtle…