In his Jogo do Pau training seminar in Vancouver in 2016, instructor Luis Preto demonstrated a basic fact of learning. To get good at catching a ball, there's little utility in rehearsing the catching action in isolation; you need to have a ball thrown at you. The mind is an incredible problem-solving machine. It can…
Snow may have fallen this week, but that didn't keep us from riding and practising mounted combat. And with spring just around the corner, we have many more course offerings to get you out of the salle and into the saddle. Spring Courses at Red Colt Mounted Combat Mastery February is sword & shield month,…
This past weekend, I was on an examination board for the first Provost of Armizare at the Chicago Swordplay Guild (CSG), Jesse Kulla. Provost is the rank before Master in most schools that follow an Italian martial arts tradition. I sat on a board with Sean Hayes, Maestro of Northwest Fencing Academy, Marco Quarta, Maestro…
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Over the month of January, Academie Duello and Duello.TV (our online video learning channel) hosted a 30-day swordplay training challenge. Each participant engaged in the goal of at least 30 minutes of swordplay training per day for 30 days. Participants represented dozens of schools from all over the world and the range of disciplines practised was…
Read More... from Advice from the 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge
Red Spur Swordplay from the Ground: Playbuilding When you were earning your Blue Spur, you demonstrated the ability to conduct isolated plays using attacks and defences from all quadrants. Now we want you to show the ability to connect a series of attacks and defences, or in other words: Demonstrate the ability to carry on…
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Last Saturday morning at 5:30am I began a trip from Vancouver to the town of Monroe in Washington state, about 3 hours south of Vancouver, with five of my students from Academie Duello. It was our yearly trip to a rapier tournament held by the Society for Creative Anachronism called Ursulmas. This particular tournament gets…
Competitiveness plays a big role in sport. Cultivating the competitive spirit is often used to drive one to harder training and to overcoming one's opponents in a game or tournament. It can be a font of energy positively harnessed. Yet, if it's based on making negative comparisons to others, I think competition is something you…
Red Spur Swordplay from the Ground Last week we looked at the general advantages and disadvantages the combatant on the ground faces when up against a rider. This week I'll get a little more specific and give you some plays you can use. This is a sample only, not an all-encompassing toolbox of tactics, but…
Read More... from Two Feet vs Four: Defeating the Mount Opponent
Martial arts have been a big part of my life since I was a child. I started first with Kung Fu then Arnis/Eskrima and then I began my longest-term exploration, Western Martial Arts. I am often asked why people practice martial arts or why I practice swordplay specifically – considering it’s unlikely that I’ll be…
Red Spur Swordplay from the Ground The first section of the Red Spur Mounted Combat Skills section is Swordplay from the Ground. Your first checkbox is: Demonstrate five plays from the ground against a mounted opponent. Facing the Mounted Opponent from the Ground To a foot soldier, I can imagine very few more frightening sights…
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Mastery — the pursuit of something to a high level of proficiency — is a challenging and hard to plot journey. Our capacity to stay on the road and move through its various stages is highly connected to our relationship with ignorance. How comfortable are you with not knowing? How at ease are you with…
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all feeling rested and ready to hop back in the saddle again. We have lots of exciting courses coming up for everyone from total beginners to Blue Spurs. Mounted Combat Mastery classes resume January 7th, there is a rare Intro to Mounted Combat course happening Sunday January 14th…
One of the things I focus on in my recent book, Introduction to Italian Rapier, is healthy biomechanics. These are important not just for performance but for your long-term health. Martial arts done well can improve your strength, endurance, and physical comfort. However, done poorly, they can have the exact opposite effect, leading to strain, pain,…
Read More... from 3 Injury Prevention Tips for Rapier Fighters
Who doesn’t want a pony for Christmas? Give the next best thing with a six-week course of Riding & Horsemanship at Red Colt Farm, where students learn to care for and ride Academie Duello’s gentle school horses. If the thought of knighthood lights up your loved-one’s eyes, include the Mounted Combat Fundamentals course for only…
Recently, I began a blog series answering, in broad form, why we teach the rapier and longsword as part of one system at Academie Duello. I started in the first post by looking at the historical precedent for multi-weapon study that spans many original fighting manuals from both the medieval period and the Renaissance, as…
Being relaxed is a key component to good fencing. Relaxed muscles are quicker to respond, easier to adapt and change, and more capable of feeling connections through your weapon. Yet, so many of us have a difficult time being relaxed or even being aware of our current state of tension. In this article I'd like…
Our last Riding, Horsemanship, and Mounted Combat classes for 2017 wrapped up on the weekend, but that doesn't mean activities have stopped for the year. Here are some of the things you can do at Red Colt in December Get a Mounted Combat Membership Get your 2018 Membership now and you can use it in…
It's been just over a year since we launched our Mounted Combat Membership program. Here's what some of those fees have paid for: Keeping Jack's tender toes happy with giant shoes Chiropractor visits for Tilly Making horse use and stall rental free of charge at Carosella 2017 Orange-bin rental for our renolition party this summer…