Now about two decades old, the modern study of HEMA is continuing to gain enthusiasts from non-traditional venues. We’re already familiar with our peers in Japan that have an interest in medieval western martial arts, mirroring the western interest in ‘kendo’ and any of the Chinese swordplay disciplines. The item on Romania’s interest in and…
If you feel that you learn best by reading or writing, you are not alone. For many, these are the learning skills that they've had the most practice with since our school system focuses so much on them. This in itself is an important note. It may not be that you are "wired this way",…
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Riding Level 4: Gymnastics In the equine world, gymnastics have nothing to do with leotards, balance bars, or vaulting horses. Rather, a gymnastic exercise, sometimes called a grid, is a line of jumps or poles set with one, two, or no strides (a bounce) between them. Gymnastic lines are wonderful exercises that help improve jumping style for…
So, this clean eating challenge popped up in my feed a few days ago because several people I know are taking it. We’re about to go down a rabbit hole, so I guess before we begin I should clarify: I don’t blame people for doing this stuff. I don’t blame people for hoping it will help them…
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Luis Preto gave a wonderful analogy in the instructor section of his Jogo do Pau level 1 instructor seminar where he compared how we teach martial arts to how we teach someone to catch a ball. The typical martial arts approach to teaching catch: Demonstrate the catching motion. Have the student practice catching as a…
Horsemanship Level 4: Mounted Games It is possible to progress through our Riding and Horsemanship curricula without ever taking up mounted combat, and some people do this. However, we think you're missing out on a lot of the fun as well as on the riding skills that mounted games build. So even though we test…
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So, I generally don’t do reviews, so it means if I am doing one I either love the product or I really hate it to the point I need to put it in print so that I can stop being angry about it. Luckily (for you) this is the former. Over the weekend, I was…
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Jared Kirby presents his interpretation and editing of Vincentio Saviolo’s 1595 work 'Of Honour and Honourable Quarrels'. Vincentio Saviolo set up a fencing salle in Elizabethan London ‘about’ late 1580-ish, but he is perhaps better known to most in the HEMA rapier community as being the ‘dandified Italian’ against whom George Silver ranted. That aside,…
Read More... from Book Review: “A Gentleman's Guide to Duelling” by Saviolo
At the end of a workshop delivered by Guy Windsor recently, Guy asked all of his students "Did you have every opportunity to get what you wanted from today's session?" This was a subtle shift from a question I had heard him ask two year's prior "Did you get what you wanted from today's workshop?"…
The weather was perfect, the horses were mellow, and the students all left with smiles on their faces after our day of Horseback Archery with Robert Borsos of Borsos Torzs Horse Archery. The beginners started the day by learning Hungarian archery from foot, before we mounted them up on friendly school horses with handlers for some shooting…
Three times in the last week I have advised other coaches seeking help working on weight loss with clients to get them to do less, eat more, and be patient. The common belief for weight loss is to eat less, train more, but more often than not when talking to other nutrition coaches their clients flounder…
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Understanding your strongest and weakest learning styles can be a useful and illuminating tool for becoming a more engaged and effective student. This week we examine effective strategies for maximizing visual learning and retention. Check out the DTV Livestream on Effective Learning to hear a discussion on this same subject. Visual learning is the process…
Riding Level 4: Dropping the Reins There are many times dropping the reins is useful or necessary in mounted combat. Historical manuals show pommel strikes, grappling, cross-bow, off-hand, and half-sword plays at walk and canter. And, of course, horseback archery is always done without a hand on the reins. Some images show the reins looped through the…
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