Original subtitles

Hey we're doing this. Let's line up. It's gettin' time.

My name is Dave Schade.

I've been a professional jouster for 25 years

and I've been the general manager of the New Riders

of the Golden Age for about 22 of those years.

I've been a horseman as long as I've been jousting.

So everything I learned about horses came from jousting.

I'm a giant nerd. I, you know, enjoy Doug Fairbanks movies

and fight choreography and Three Musketeers

and all, you know, all things history.

I saw this team perform at a renaissance festival in

Florida, was enamored by the fact that they jousted for

real, which my nerd self was squealing with delight.

Some years later I was working a show

in Ohio as a character.

They were jousting there and one thing led to another

and I started working for that company.

I am an anomaly in our company.

Most people that train take about a year

before they're joust ready.

I was jousting in five and a half weeks.

I don't know if that's because I was too stupid

to know any better if the company was desperate

or maybe I had just enough talent not to kill anybody.

Did you guys put the horses back in their homes?

Oh yeah.

Thank you.

So you've been living the horse life for a long time.

Yeah, yeah I have. When I started, you know,

as a reenactment nerd and, and of course I saw real jousting

'cause the first time I started riding

it just made sense.

And I became superbly interested in the technical acumen

about how to ride a horse well.

And then all of a sudden it switched.

It was about the horses as much

as it was about doing the shows and the joust and,

and all that kind of stuff.

So, you know, I never touched horses before in my life

until I turned 21 and joined this company.

So everything I started to learn was from here.

And thankfully I got very lucky

'cause the guy that runs this company is a very

knowledgeable horse-person.

So, because of him, it allowed me to go

to other really talented trainers and not embarrass myself

and have them take me on.

So I really got a lot of, lot of good influences in my life

as far as the people I've

gotten to train under over the years.

Do some jogging, now, going to your right

That's probably the best departure I've ever seen

you do on that horse...

So yeah, I'd get off

Just a really nice lift and roll into it.

She was very quiet

because you were also directing her

letting her know where to travel to.

It's training people to ride horses if they just wanna

learn how to ride a horse, you know,

you're just trying to build their confidence.

You're trying to help them develop a communicative

skillset with that horse

uh, the confidence to be that horse's leader

when you're adding the layer of jousting, they need to have

that ability with the horses to begin with.

But then now you have to add armor,

confidence in the armor.

When you're wearing a helmet, you have to deal with the fact

that your breathing is severely limited,

your vision is severely limited

and you are now dealing with more feel than sight.

So they have to kind of go through that crucible.

And then the next crucible is somebody actually is coming

to hit you with something and they have to

kind of, figure out can they navigate that?

How do they feel about it? That sort of thing.

Introducing to the new kids, to the wonderful world

of stupidity that we exist within.

You know, they've been practicing

you know, learning how to aim,

learning how to work their horse in the list.

They've hit the hard quintain, which provides a little bit

of resistance, get an idea of

what it's like crashing into something else.

They've passed each other without making contact.

Today we're gonna line them up and let 'em get contact now.

I'm armoring up my horse just as a precaution,

you know,

they've been fairly steady, but

because they're new, the possibility

for mistakes, on their end, is greater.

So I'm just putting armor on my horse so that way,

you know, we-we wear it...

It-it's definitely a nice addition.

It's a showpiece, but functional as well.

So this way she's got at least the minimum amount

of protection of the just in case scenario, you know,

'cause there there are so many variables.

That was my first unhorsing, first couple

of live passes and uh...

loud, full of sand...

A little bit like being in a small car wreck, but not bad.

The lance impact doesn't hurt.

Yeah?

Hitting the ground hurts.

The lance impact is not that bad.

We do the best we can to mitigate all of them and,

and make this as reasonably safe as possible.

But the second you start getting too relaxed

and too comfortable

is the second that, you know,

an unnecessary accident can occur.

Doing this without an audience or a live show

takes the pressure of the show off.

So each pass that occurs, we can talk to 'em,

"Hey, you're doing this, you're doing that.

Do this, do that."

Or if it looks like it's getting unsafe "okay, we're done".

Workin' on it

So much stan.

Yeah!

Your ego's talking

That's right.

My ego needs to pick on everybody smaller than me

and brand new to feel like I'm awesome.

Jesus! Its practice, Hannah! it's just practice!

Now that you've crossed this bridge

you've earned a Friday to

not have to armor up, if you so choose.

Go get out of your stuff.

Thank you.

And those two are like, "what in the hell?"

For me...

I just have a history with theater

and like I always loved stage combat and more rough

and tumble parts of performance.

When I worked with haunts, like haunted houses,

I got up on stilts, I did the stuff on the wires.

So I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

I love animals and the thing that actually inspired me

to do it was a completely different joust company

I had never seen a joust was about 32 years old.

And I finally got a day off at this vendor

that I was working with at the

Muskogee Renaissance Festival.

And I saw a woman joust

and as a trans woman myself, suddenly everything clicked.

Like as a kid I always dreamed about being a knight

and shining armor, but riding horses always seemed

like an impossibility.

Armor is expensive, et cetera, et cetera.

Uh huh

But then I saw this woman do it, she was amazing

and that was just a theatrical company.

No slight to them at all. But like this is full contact,

so it's a different game, you know.

My name is Jessica Van Richten.

I am a - a trans woman

and to the joust company

I suppose I am now nearing the end of my training,

but a jouster in training.

I spent the last nine months

or so of the calendar year with a two month break

for the holidays, learning how to ride horses and wear armor

and become an idiot that falls off their horse sometimes.

I wanted to be a knight in shining arbor since I was

very, very small.

And I bent my will

and did everything in my power toward learning how

to ride horses or saving up to learn how to ride horses

and saving up for armor for like a year.

And I figured I was gonna be doing that

for a couple more years when I ran into this joust company,

New Riders of the Golden Age and met Dave specifically.

And I told him that's what I was doing.

I was working for a vendor

and I was like, I'm saving up so I can learn to ride horses

and buy my own armor.

And he's looked me dead in the eyes

and said, well just come with me.

I'll teach you everything. I'm certain Dave will tell me

when the training is done

and I feel I've got, you know, a good ways to go yet as far

as making sure I can make it all the way through the show

with everything that we do.

But I've learned how to do the actual sport,

which is very exciting and I've got my own armor.

And the real reason that I do it is just,

it's fulfilling a lifelong childhood dream

that I never thought was even a possibility until all

of the cards kind of fell in the right place.

Psychologically, the biggest challenge would be I've spent

the last 12 years happily domesticated in love, living

with my, my now wife.

So like life partner. And we have a 7-year-old child.

And the biggest challenge I would say is being undoing my

domestication and learning to live on the road

because life on the road is a very different thing.

I had a new relationship and that was jousting

because it takes up so much of your time leaving.

And the lifestyle change has been the hardest part.

Physically I would say simply my cardio

and endurance while wearing the armor I need

to do some laps while wearing it.

A realization of what I've been working toward

and seeing photos and videos of it.

I've-it's again, the realization of it sinking in.

I did this, I put my mind to something

and reached for something

that I thought was impossible most of my life.

So what all does it take to, to be a knight?

A severe lack of intelligence.

You know, you, like, you...

I-uh

you can do it if you want to,

you know, you, you just have to be willing to go

through the fire that it is to get there.

And then be okay with the fact that you're about

to get your a-- you know, somebody coming at you

trying to take your head off.

You know, if, if you can manage that

and you're okay with it, then you'll-you'll be just fine.

That's really the bottom line of it is if you want it,

you have to be willing to get after it

and you have to be okay with the physical

punishment that comes with it.

You know, if you can do that, you-you-can-you can do this.

I've had my back go out a couple times, but that's

'cause I'm a lot older and my body's durability is starting

to, starting to reduce significantly.

It-lately, like every year

like last year I broke my knu--my uh...

my hand. The year before that

I wrenched my back. The year before that I wrenched my back

and then cracked a rib.

What is termed as full contact where the intention is

to either break your lance or drop your opponent.

It's a combat sport. You're gonna come with bumps

and bruises and aching muscles and body soreness

and you know, sometimes you get a nasty injury

where you know you're gonna pay for it.

So Kelly is the owner of the company,

of the joust team.

He started in 1980 at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival

where he would show up

and do the horse races that they had there

'cause there was no jousting at the time.

And him and another gentleman by the name

of Christopher Poor got together

and decided to, you know, try to create a joust reenactment.

So Kelly and him formed that up,

started jousting, like theatrically.

And then they decided somewhere along the line like,

let's try to figure out how to do this for real.

Eventually Kelly and Chris parted ways

and Kelly kept going

and figured out how to joust

and he's figured out a way to do it relatively safely

as compared to any other contact sport.

Easy!

Hey, hey, hey

Sam, you okay?

Your saddle completely titled sideways

I'm recognizing the durability in my body is starting

to significantly reduce.

So you have a metal knuckle?

Yeah, it's a piece of metal that goes from the,

this knuckle all the way across

And it bends?

No, doesn't bend.

But the doctor set it up so that way it-

it-it I can pinch. So if you look...

Oh, that, that finger stuck.

Yeah, it's-it's permanently bent.

It's my hook.

When I started, I lived in a tent.

I had to, you know,

figure out how to live very minimally, make sure

that my tent wouldn't flood

or that I would be warm enough in my tents, you know,

and then I had to have my own vehicle to be able

to pack all my stuff up and go from show to show.

There are a lot of interesting hardships that come

with living a transient and minimalist lifestyle.

It's just one of those things

where you're sacrificing a lot to do this, this art form.

William! William! Willam!

Villiany was afoot in Sherwood Forest

and now we see how little brother Johnny would rule

in our stead,

allowing dishonorable knights such as Gal

and Guy to rule the field, Get them out of our sight!

George Appling is the owner of the Sherwood Forest Faire,

probably one of the most enthusiastic,

faire owners I've ever seen who was on his own cast.

He absolutely loves medieval history

and participating in it.

He's the very definition of a cosplayer.

He loves dressing up and being in medieval outfits.

He's very passionate about the faire,

which is really enjoyable to work for.

This is a, his name is Boris

he's a 20-year-old Percheron gelding.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah. 20 years old. He stands 18.2 hands high. - He's a big boy

which he is a very tall, weighs about 1,850 pounds.

So Sadie is a 21-year-old Percheron mare.

She has been here since 2010.

Wow.

So a long time.

He's been here since 2014.

She got here in I think 2017.

Welcome!

We are Richard, Richard, the Lionheart king of the English.

And we are throwing a little party here in Sherwood Forest.

We call it Sherwood Forest Faire.

The year is 1190 and I will be departing on Holy

Crusade this afternoon.

Now I'm leaving my mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine

to keep an eye on my little brother Johnny.

"God save the queen!"

And may God save you all!

Our dear son, king Richard had hoped be here this day

to witness the tournament

Tis I...

Robin Hood!

And rumor has that there's some outlaw Robin Hood who's

somehow making sure the law is followed.

But I'm sure Prince John won't make any bad decisions.

So if you were here with me at the faire,

you would see over 50 different shows

music, jousting, falconry, comedy, juggling,

all sorts of things.

You would see Skoda Bon Reve.

And we have 170 artisans

making things with their hands,

from hand-blown glass to leather boots

to jewelry, hats, swords, knives, armor,

everything you can think of.

Wooden mugs, pewter mugs.

It's the largest marketplace

of artisanship you can find in central Nottingham...

Texas.

This was a record setting season

and we set an attendance record every single weekend in

our eight weekend run.

And, and you could feel it. It was, the energy was so high.

Yeah. And there were just people. Every,

every stage was full, every bar was full.

It was great. We're over 130,000 this season.

People would write "Sherwood is this small faire".

And I would correct them and say, "we are not a small faire,

we are decidedly medium" but I think we may be big now

The horse I sit upon is the Magnificent Glinda

and believe you me, small might be...

what an incredible joust it was today.

Now my friends

I think we'll have to generate

a little bit more...

The Knights of the Grail is a 501C3

nonprofit organization.

And we are here almost every weekend of the year except

for August because people really

shouldn't be here in August.

And we do equine therapy for active duty military, veterans

and first responders.

Our special hook is we do joust games.

So we have veterans on the horse at a cantor throwing a

spear, hitting the quintain with a lance

and chopping up those vicious, vicious French cabbages.

Bor-ious, the glorious, 20 years old.

I've been a-a horseman for a good 11 or 12 years now.

Um-and I- One of my best friends was a marine

veteran with PTSD.

He was our horse master for several years

and he really wanted to bring in more veterans

to put on the horses because there's a famous saying

by Winston Churchill which is,

"There's something about the

outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."

And we find that to be true.

There are several veterans here

who say this program is keeping them alive.

Oh, the Knights of the Grail.

So yeah, I've been employed as their head trainer

to help get their horses to have good behavior patterns,

but also be safe for, for people that want to come.

And pretty much equine therapy sounds big and fantastic,

but it's really just about

being in the presence of horses.

Just by being with them, petting them, interacting.

Multiple studies have shown things like reduced blood

pressure, reduced anxiety, reduced PTSD triggering.

So there's a lot of benefit that way.

So the program that we have is dedicated around that idea

where if a veteran would like to come

and just pet a horse on the head, they get to do that.

If they wanna learn more about how to work with a horse,

we have a ground program where they learn how

to work the horses from the ground.

We have a saddle program

where they can learn different levels of riding.

And so again, it's mainly just to create an environment

that they can come, interact

with horses in the way that they choose.

Also be around other veterans, you know,

to help each other back and forth just by,

by being a positive presence for each other.

But again, just creating that space to allow them

to have a moment of positivity within a world

that maybe causes them a lot of anxiety

and a lot of frustrations.

My name's Rob Paul.

I'm a volunteer for an

organization called Knights of the Grail.

Through that organization, I-I got to meet Dave

and since I've been brought in kind of as his apprentice

for horse training and so that's, that's why, that's

where I get my interaction with the joust company from.

I was in the Army, I was a field artillery officer,

did three deployments, two to Afghanistan, one to Iraq.

I was in for about, I was in for 17 years.

I don't know what else you wanna know about that.

So I, I do have PTSD, I have, I have pretty severe PTSD

because of the issues that I have

with my PTSD, anxiety, depression.

I have, I've had severe anger issues in the

past that I'm still working on.

Being with a horses really helps to center me

because I can't take those emotions in with the horse.

The mo- the horse will just feed off of that.

And so being able to work with the horses

and find a calm center for myself

so that I can then go work

with the horses has really helped.

Uh-I've been able to transfer that from just

horses into my daily life.

And being able to function

even when I'm having high anxiety

or even when my depression's really bad,

it really does help me to function and focus.

It's a safe environment for me to be in with my PTSD

because there's no way in hell I'd

ever hurt one of those horses.

Dave has honestly had a huge impact in my life.

He has provi- He's, he has become one

of my very good friends.

Someone I can really trust

and turn to on my hardest days he's been there

and just been someone I could lean on

and rely on who was there for me to support me

and let me know that everything's gonna get better.

He's an amazing coach for me.

Um, very patient.

I-I-I love the way he interacts

with me when he's teaching me how to interact with a horse.

He's just become

a very important person in my life

over the last 10 months and I really hope that-that-

that through the course of this documentary,

other people could see him the way that I do.

He's-he's a pretty amazing human being

and I'm very proud and honored to call him my friend.

So those terms are good. I like the frame that she kept.

You know, I'm not worried about the perfection

of her body movement right now.

She's at least trying to work with you and not just tense up

and, and start with her fight.

Right. So same thing,

whenever you're ready you're gonna encourage her to do

that, right?

If she's there, then you just invite her

forward just a little...

Yes!

Now same thing when you're ready

to jog little reminders, get her back to the bridle.

Right. Little encourage-

Yes! yes!

We'll clean out the bottom of their foot

'cause they get a lot

of bacteria in there.

There could be a rock or a nail in

there that would make 'em lame.

So you just wanna make sure those are clean.

How long have you been with the joust company?

About 10 years.

I started when I was 16 back in New York for a summer job

and then a couple years later came on the road with them,

worked my way up the ladder from there.

I'm Shelby Wimler,

I'm kind of just a road manager,

take care of the horses

and make sure they're all well kept

and help train them and train the knights

and squire, stuff like that.

I-I've been with 'em pretty much outta high school.

It was my first summer job

and um... kept coming back each summer

and once I was outta high school I just decided

to go on the road with 'em and see a few new places.

I don't know, the horses were really the big draw.

I was grew up a horse lover, horse girl

and these guys are just so magnificent.

To have my foot in the door

with them was a really nice opportunity.

They're so talented and well-trained.

You don't see a lot with the draft horses.

A lot of 'em are just trail horses

but these guys move really well

and I like the way that we've got 'em trained.

I jousted once

when I was training a horse

I wanted to be

the first one that jousted on her

so they kind

of put a suit of armor together

and I got to the point where she was ready

to do a lance pass

and of course I got knocked off and hit the ground.

But she did exactly what she was supposed to do.

Hi, I am Taylor Maine.

I've been with the troop for about six months now.

Training up to be a jouster.

Been coming to ren faire since I was little.

I've kind of seen these guys for years now

and this is my first time being part of the tournament

and I get to marshal for it, which is super exciting.

Like any of these people here,

I don't think everybody realizes how much

of like an extreme personality type they are.

Like I'm sure they do,

but like they think, oh Dave's so much different than me.

And really they're, they're all just the same kind

of explosive sort of a-a-

a maximized type of character.

I mean he's the best jouster here,

probably the best jouster in if not the country than like

one of the top 10 in the world.

It's also like he's been doing it 20 years

and there's not like ma- there's not like

thousands of jousters out there.

There's probably no more than a thousand jousters worldwide.

Probably less than that, probably like in the hundreds.

But he is, of those, one of the best.

Everybody else I've seen on the

horse, I've seen fall at some point.

I have not seen Dave fall yet, which is also why I'm excited

for this weekend

I'm Caitlin Alexander.

I'm from Sterling, New York

and I'm considered, like, a squire.

I've been squiring for the company

for 10 years now.

I love the people, everyone here.

They have a really great community sense.

I love the horses.

The horses are amazing

but really I just come back for the people.

So I train all the new people on the ground to show them

how the show works,

how to put armor on the guys,

how to take armor, saddles,

bridles off the horses after the show.

Basically I do all the background behind the scenes,

prep the show so it works smoothly for the Knights.

My favorite horse is Abraham.

I just love his whole personality.

Um- he was actually the first horse I took lessons on

Dave like he's out there every day during the week, riding

and he puts in like a 100 percent into the shows.

Even though I'm super hot days when you're just like bone-

tired, you just don't want to do anything.

He's still there.

Like this is his passion, this is his love

and that's what makes him such a great jouster.

Even though he said he is gonna retire, I don't know

how many different times,

but I know he will still continue-

will be continuing this like no matter how long.

How about we just like

Come on!

What?

Keep it up smart ass, see where it gets you with me.

You know, when I started working

with horses it just made sense and I enjoyed it

and I was hungry to learn from whoever-

whoever was willing to teach me.

When I got to Florida to meet Kelly for the first time,

who is the owner of the company,

um- he would do horse competitions

and when I watched videotape of that I was like wow, I want

that level of proficiency

and it just drove me to try to accomplish that.

So it's one of those things

that you didn't actively think about.

It just, it was inspiring and it just kept me going.

You know, you gotta guide 'em through the crucible

of the same thing that you guide the riders through.

There's a lot of anxiety, there's things

breaking over their heads.

They got sword swinging, there's a lot

of noise, there's a lot of audience.

So there's, there's a lot of layers to that as well.

Like, and some horses do better with it

and other horses don't and some will never do it.

You know, dealing with a young one right now that you know,

he's not sure about everything.

Where I had a horse the same age, you know, last year

where she was like, had moments of anxiety

but then, oh I got this figured out very quickly

and didn't make a big deal about it.

So every horse is different, you know.

We'll come out we'll say like just a quick little whatever,

but then it's on the marshalls to go ahead

and say now that all the champions have been, you know,

introduced, it's now time to begin this tournament.

Thereby knights I ask you now turn to the left and proceed.

You know, and what ideally I would like

to have happen is everybody turns left at the same time

and just jogs down the rail.

Arm themselves

I am Liam Mooney, I am a squire.

It is a spectacle, it's a performance, it's you know,

a competition and a performance at the same time.

'cause it's legit, you know, they get out there

and it's, it's real.

They wanna win. They want to unhorse their opponent and

but it's also a performance

so it's like everyone's on the same side.

You know, we're all looking out for each other here.

No one's ever trying to hurt anybody else,

but we're still trying to win.

So it has that friendly competition

that gives it like an extra layer

of both comradery and enjoyment.

We all, everybody

knight, squire, manager

in the morning do

horse feed and scoop and clean

and everything in the morning and then again at night.

And we do training and riding during the actual faire time.

Most of the day is spent doing horse rides.

We give horse rides to get some extra income

and enthusiasm about what we do.

But I'm so excited and I'm excited for the crowd

that it'll bring and just,

I mean, I'm here

because I love the joust

so seeing it like doubled

or almost tripled here

with the tournament is freaking exciting.

So my name is Sydney Froemke.

I use they them pronouns

In the show I am Dame Eleanor Hawkins,

the Raven of Kent.

I started working with them in 2015.

So about eight years.

I started working in Minnesota.

That's where they picked me up

and I didn't come on the road until 2019

and then took a break with Covid.

Eleanor! Eleanor! Eleanor!

One of the biggest challenges is just being able

to operate in the armor when it's really hot out.

'cause it's like an easy-bake oven.

It gets very warm

and you only have

to be out there for a certain amount of time.

But you are active for the time

that you are out there and you're in the sun.

There's no shade, there's no mercy.

And you can run outta breath very quickly.

And in the beginning I did, I was like gasping at the end

of the show when they pulled my helmet off.

Bandaid here, that's where the pinch was.

This is just the edge of the armor digging in.

So it's worse under the bandage?

- Yes. - Oh is it?

It looks like a-a-

Oh it looks like a shark bite.

An actual bite. Yeah, right there.

Ouch.

Oh I'm very excited to be riding Titan.

Titan is the tallest horse that we have.

He is super sweet.

He's blind in one eye

but that doesn't really affect him at all.

Sometimes he runs into things but he doesn't even care.

That's one of the reasons why I'm on him as a newbie.

I'm looking forward to just seeing how I,

I guess I measure up to all of these guys

that I've watched just for years

That's right my friends,

I am your hero,

your fabled champion,

the most handsome knight in all the realm

with the finest, tone-est buttocks out there.

Sir Christopher!

Hey! You guys made it!

You're in the wrong crowd!

Well come over here!

I am Thomas Buckley

but my character name is Sir Christopher Hatton.

Initially I inquired about jousting

because I wanted to learn how

to ride a horse when I was starting to look

to build my resume, especially my stunt performance resume.

I was interested in jousting for the horse riding aspect

of it so that I could have more

hands-on experience riding

horses, falling from horses, whether that be real

or stunt work

and give myself a little bit of an edge

as a performer out there.

And really just largely the experience.

So jousting in for me in particular has been a-

a focus in the physical stunt work.

The toughest part of jousting

for me is staying on the horse.

I'm already a very light individual

who hasn't fully grasped mastering the seat of the steed,

which makes me an easy individual to face-off against.

It's exhilarating

and if you're in the right mindset it can be the the

world's best thing.

And then at other times it can be the the most

terrible thing.

It all depends on how I'm really going into it.

I'd like to say I've leaning into it very positively

and excited to see what, what mayhem

and carnage is going to come.

You know, the great thing about that show

is I didn't break a single lance

so now I don't have to make any for the next show.

So long as there's breath in my body

victory shall be ours

I've had a few random injuries,

I have pulled my rotator cuff

or kind of hurt it in a sense that put me out for some time.

But I have broken my left toe twice,

oddly enough from this sport.

Arguably, I don't know why,

I think it's because I put so much pressure in

that left stirrup and then getting on horse the sudden

release of that pressure has probably led to some

of those fractures in the, in the bone within the toe.

Or maybe I've hit everything on the way down

with my left foot.

I've known Dave since 2014 when I was on cast at the

Sterling Renaissance Festival.

He was the fight choreographer at that faire

and that is when I initially first met him.

And when I speak of how much pain

and torture that has been delivered onto my visage

and persona, both physically, emotionally, mentally,

I am now in fear of my life at this very moment

for having uttered these words in his presence.

And that's without drugs and alcohol that's on pure air.

A lance pass happens so quickly.

So you have to really zone in

so dramatically on every lance pass.

It's a high energy sport.

But to put out a great performance with the horse,

which includes even say the sword fighting on horseback,

the entrances

and all the maneuvers that come with riding a horse

and focusing on that.

To do that on four different horses

with maybe only like 10 minutes of prep time

before a half hour show in the armor 140 pounds.

To have that like skill

and ability is definitely impressive.

I am the sweet old lady horse that is Anna.

And Anna is the mother of two

of the other horses in this company that is Titan

and Thor, no matter what the results are for me,

even if I get unhorsed, if I get hurt, if I feel like her

and I are lance passes are good, solid

and acceptable, I'll be happy.

And that's, that's been my biggest desire at this tournament

is just to revisit an old partnership that

wasn't always on the best foot.

Who's next?

Silas

Hi, my name is Silas Holtz

and I am being interviewed for what I believe is

to be a documentary about certain aspects of jousting

pertaining to the company I work with

and the employee David Schade.

Dave is one of the best jousters in the country.

So I grew up on a small farm in upstate New York.

I went to college for acting,

mostly like straight acting for the stage.

From there I got into stage combat, I trained

with the Society of American Fight Directors

and then I started training with a bunch

of other fight directors here and there.

I got cast at the Sterling Renaissance Festival as one

of their in-house actors.

And I had a rough and tumble existence

and so it kind of appealed to both of those sides to me.

It offered me a challenge to do it.

I didn't have many attachments so I was able to just kind

of give up everything and it was a grand adventure.

I trained for...

let's say probably almost, almost six months,

I think before I was put in my first show.

Different guys would get in at different times, you know,

I wasn't talented at it at all.

So the reason I made it was

because I just wanted to do it very badly.

But I had very little natural talent I had to really learn.

But luckily there was a lot of veteran, especially Dave.

They're very giving with their time and advice.

So I've been jousting for about 16 years.

Helmet hit yet the helmet's, my helmet's really

close, it's really tight.

So it must have, it must have seeded and then moved up.

The toughest part of jousting it doesn't pay great

but then there's all the fun that comes with it.

I think the toughest part

that people don't really think about is that you have

to be okay with just being uncomfortable for months

and months and months.

You know, you're always healing a little bit,

you're often sleeping and like a tent or trailer,

but it's hard to really imagine

and conceptualize being just,

just never being quite comfortable for, you know,

nine months in a row.

My name is Andrew Hoffman

and I'm a jouster with New Riders...

of the Golden Age.

Gotta get all the way down to the nubs

I am riding Indigo.

He's a little hard-sided sometimes,

but he's a damn fine jousting horse.

He runs very straight, very reliably as long

as I'm actively riding him.

It was the ability of the travel

be around horses

primarily my goal, professionally speaking, is

to be with horses and my goal personally speaking is

to travel and have fun and jousting is

how I could do both of those things.

Only way to do it on the road.

Other that would be in a rodeo.

I think I had started training in 2017.

I wanna say it took me about nine months,

roughly could have gotten in faster.

But realistically speaking it, I didn't know how

to ride a horse at all before I joined this company.

I'd been on horses my entire life

and never learned how to ride properly

before jousting and horses.

I would say I was with a carriage company

that my family owned and operated for about 12 or so years,

since the early 2000's.

Ever since I was a kid we'd been going

to renaissance festivals as well.

So it's just where horses and horses

and festivals met is where I found into jousting you have

to cultivate the relationship with the horse

and you they have to be part of the conversation as well.

And oftentimes when I had been with horses growing up,

they weren't really allowed to be part of the conversation

'cause they were just used as tractors, tools, implements

to get whatever job we needed done

and performing with them in a show they have to be part

of the conversation 'cause they have loud voices

and they will be heard if they need to be heard.

So it was definitely humbling myself to be able

to ride the horse and you know,

comfortably communicate with them.

And to be entirely frank, the skill level is a little skewed

between the, between the jousters here.

Like Dave's been doing this for like almost 30 years

so it's kind of hard to stand up against,

the amount of time he's put in.

The first time I met Dave would've been in 2003,

I was eight years old, I think it was in Louisiana.

And I was attending one of the jousts there.

Once he actually picked me outta the crowd

put me in the middle

of the field and said, "Alright, stand right here

and I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna run at

you and jump this horse over you."

And I stood there and he went and he started running at me

and then he stopped right in front of me and he's just like,

"Get the hell outta here kid.

I'm not gonna actually jump a horse over you."

Dave is a titan on the field and he's a damn fine jouster

I would venture to call him one

of the best jousters in America.

And this is a very fun job and and a fun experience

and sometimes I, it's kind of hard

to not feel like a rock star.

It's an exciting thing. We're gonna go out there

and joust in front of a whole crowd

of people and it's gonna be amazing.

I always get bruises up in here

'cause the armor is constantly biting me.

It's just mostly just bruises.

I've never broken anything yet is there is always a-a risk

that we take doing this.

Almost every one of us has one

of these right here on the top of your knuckle.

We always, it always gets split

'cause that's where the band plate hits in the hand.

But that's where we learn

to start patting our gauntlets a little better.

So it's, as long as everyone pads themselves

and takes care of their body properly,

injuries can be mitigated.

My name's Sam Kuecker.

Go by the name Sir Jacob Samuels.

And I'm a knight.

Been doing it for about 11 years, I suppose.

As soon as I got out of high school, I joined the military.

I was in the Air Force for six years.

The only reason I got into jousting was

'cause I knew a guy from the military who started jousting

and he called me up and asked me if I wanted to do it.

So, and I was like, sure,

I don't got anything better to do.

I kind of grew up around horses,

but I never really rode horses.

So I guess it was just the experience,

me and Dave get along really well during the show.

'cause if somebody flubs up on something,

we can usually pick up on it.

You know, we, we can tell if the other

person's struggling with something.

So we kind of, you know, fill in for the other person, like

during a ground fight or something like that.

Earlier on in my career I screwed up my wrist a lot.

Soon as I got a new gauntlet fixed, a lot of that.

I haven't had anything serious.

If it fits right, your armor will protect you very well.

The, the more times you hit the ground,

the the slower time gets for you it seems.

So you can think about what you have to do.

You know, don't stick your arms out, you know,

kind of try to tuck 'em in.

This is the most talking you'll ever hear me talk about.

I don't do the whole talking out there on the

joust field or anything.

I am like the reigning champion.

So there's probably a little more pressure on me from

everybody else to try to beat me.

I think they're all gonna be gunning for me.

So the owner of the faire has put up a $1000 dollar purse

for the the winner to take home.

She says to me on the phone the other day

like we're talking

and she's like, "You're gonna win, right?"

I'm like, I don't know, we'll see what happens.

"No, you are going to win. Your daughter wants you to win."

I'm like, Damn it. I'm like

Eye on the prize.

Thanks hun. -You're welcome.

Love you. -Love you too.

Yeah, the prize is important

but it's not the ultimate important.

The ultimate important is gonna be

what does the audience take away from it?

You know, are they laughing and smiling

and having a great time or are they sitting here going,

why are those guys arguing about points for 10 minutes?

What's going on? I don't understand. Right.

And the weird thing is, is even though I've jousted

with all these guys, I'm a little in my head about this.

Like, I'm like, it's a tournament weekend.

You know, like you want to go out there and

and be the guy everybody says you are, you know, as far

as being the most experienced or the big killer on the field

and this and that, you know,

but like anybody else, you know, one match you,

you can lose focus

and then maybe you're not that guy and that's okay.

There's nothing wrong with that. But still, like,

it's hard not to get that performance anxiety where like,

man, I really wanna go out there and kill it this weekend.

I wanna show everybody what we can do

and how good we really are.

You know? And not even like, like the whole team.

I, I want everybody to do good and,

and really have good matches, you know

There's something about the combative arts

that you gain respect for people that give you a good fight.

Like our tournament's gone in-house the last couple years

for various reasons.

Glad to host one of the best jousting tournaments

anyone will ever see.

There's two kinds of jousting, there's theatrical jousting

and there's competitive jousting.

The jousting here at Sherwood

Forest Faire is always competitive.

And so on a regular faire day there may be, you know,

three knights jousting.

But on the tournament day there, there are six to eight

and it's a round robin tournament

and they're just lance shards flying all over the place.

Bodies flying all over the place.

We had a double unhorsing.

It's kinda watching a train wreck, you're just waiting

for the smash and the knight flying outta the saddle.

It's a- it's quite something to watch.

"Christopher! Christopher! Christopher!"

The hour is indeed on us.

We've all gathered in mass around this sandy arena.

We have four competitors who are just blood thirsty

to take home the championship belt.

That championship title that is the master

of the list this day are just eager

to rip forth from their saddles

and destroy their opponents this day.

So who is ready for a penultimate match

of our jousting tournament?!

We have one new champion

and that champion this day,

the overall championship of the list

is that man of the green, of the black

the bear of northumber

Give it up for Sir Jacob Samuels!

My friends what say you for their valiant effort?

Hip Hip!

hooray!

Awww it's always good to keep the good

sportsmanlike conduct this day.

Now for those of you who have a mind,

these knights are going

to be walking amongst you with helmets

and pens to answer any

and all questions you may have for them.

This was an awesome jousting tournament.

Thanks for everybody that came out

and thank you to your wonderful jousts

and they're wonderful horses.

We'll see you next time at Sherwood Forest

jousting tournament.

How do you feel, man?

I don't know,

I guess I'm glad it's over

I guess, uh, glad I

glad I beat David again,

that's always great.

Well congratulations man.

Thank you.

It was a hell of a show.

Yeah, I'm glad we really,

we really started smacking each other on that last show.

So...

You rat bastard

That was awesome. Good job.

I know all I can think of is, man, if I didn't miss

that second pass, we'd

probably still be out there right now.

That was good job. That was awesome.

I still hate you but good job.

I know already I wanted to win,

like I remember feeling that, but I like,

but not at the detriment of Sam.

Like, because when I joust Sam

I have a great time

like him and I always have banger matches usually

and he's fun.

Like I consider him a friend and,

and I love having him around.

So for me it wasn't like going out there

to say I'm better than you Sam.

It's more of like, I'm not sure,

maybe like something about my

reputation or whatever, you know what I mean?

But I like, I wasn't going in there with poison.

I was going in there with focus of like really wanting

to settle in and, and do what I know I'm capable of doing.

So when you hear that word competitive,

like sometimes it could be a bad thing, right?

Because it, it,

it automatically assumes an adversarial relationship

but also competitive just means you're trying

to really hone your focus to, to win.

You know? But if I don't win I can be

okay with my performance.

I'm a professional squire, Sir Daniel.

Around this time last year I suffered a pretty

severe concussion.

I was actually knocked out completely on this very field.

I went up against Sir William Dudley, David Shade

and on our very last pass we both connected with a lot

of force and I just came right out of the saddle

and landed right on the side of my head.

Had no reaction time to even really roll

or try to move myself.

I just went straight down

I hit Tom, cleared him out of the saddle

and he hit the ground,

which is something he does quite a bit.

But in this particular instance,

the way he hit

a piece of the helmet somet- how got exposed

and hit him behind the ear actually left a small-

small opening there.

And I mean it knocked him clean out.

He was on the field for a few minutes

before he came to

they put him on a backboard to make sure

that, you know, he was okay.

But he had a severe concussion.

He was stuck on repeat.

He had no clue what happened.

And he kept asking what happened over

and over and over again.

But then he started cussing me out a little bit,

which is normal for him.

So we're like, all right, he'll be fine.

Yeah, that was terrifying 'cause I thought I killed him

or that I irrevocably wrecked his life.

So thankfully that wasn't the case.

Thankfully he was okay but ugh, that was a-

that was a big experience.

And I like Tom a lot

he's lucky I admit that on camera.

A little scary for me just

to wake up in an ambulance staring at the guy

who unhorsed me and his crying child.

You know, the funniest thing about that too,

is the first thing I do remember when I came to is Dave

he's sitting there he is, got his crying

six year old in his arms and I looked at him and said

eat- Dave

and then the paramedic closed the doors and drove off.

Unfortunately that's the reality of the job

and of the the sport.

It's just, you never know when something

like that's gonna happen.

I don't remember anything about the past

or the contact at all.

So that's a good two-ish seconds

of memory

that's just something I'll never get back.

You know, it's something I would never

wanna go through again.

I don't wish it on anybody. I've taken it slow.

I have yet to get back in saddle

and it's been about a year,

but I'm looking to do that next weekend

within this company.

I've done just about every role that is ever needed

between ground crew, um

and ground crew can be squiring,

it can be picking up the,

the debris on the field.

For this tournament,

I've elected to be a judge at the other end at one end

that way so I can help the marshal score

being in the ground crew.

Truth be told, it makes me feel like a kid that's locked

inside while the rest of the class is out on recess

and it, you know, it sucks

'cause you're just sitting like I want to have fun too.

Eager to get back into it

because I do enjoy performing in the armor.

I enjoy riding in the armor, the sport's just one

of those once in a lifetime exhilarating sports that

when you get the opportunity to do it

and compete in it, why would you ever say no?

Before jousting, I was an elite softball

player for 15 years.

So I grew up rough and tumble.

I did a lot of sports. I did hockey, skated

and I did soccer for fun.

So I'm super athletic.

I also was a dance teacher and instructor.

I danced 10 to 12 times a week.

So many hours in the studio

and it's definitely helped with riding.

And to have this experience almost a year later

to be competing in the finals against like Silas, Dave

and Sam has been crazy.

I honestly am still kind of speechless

that I even made it here beginning of the weekend.

I didn't think I'd get here.

It has been a confidence booster for me

'cause I struggled over the last year with a bunch of stuff

and jousting and riding

and trying to make it all come into one cohesive gel.

And this tournament kind of solidified it for me

that I am capable

of doing this extremely stupid and dangerous sport.

Yeah, I didn't join the company,

the intention of jousting ever.

I honestly just joined

'cause I wanted to work with the horses

and then Dave one day looked at me

and he's like, are you training the joust?

And I just said, yes, I wanna be jousting as long

as my body is able to handle it.

So you're relatively new?

Yes, today was my second day ever jousting.

It's awesome.

I've been, you know, looking forward to it,

and then it's here and it's crazy

and everyone's like

what- did it feel like you expected?

you know, breaking a lance or getting unhorsed.

I'm like, I didn't really know what to expect.

It's, you can't simulate

or really think about what

that's gonna feel like until it happens.

Kind of crazy having my first jousting

show be the tournament.

It's got--

Trial by fire a little bit

and so far I'm not so singed.

I've also had training from Shelby and Kelly

and you know, Silas and Syd

and you know

they'll all give their two cents when they can.

And it's awesome having so many voices

but then having Dave be like chief coach

He really knows

how to speak to you in horse language

in a way that you can understand it.

And how do you feel about Dave's planned

retirement after today?

It's a bummer, but I'm kind of glad my first overlaps

with his last and you know, we'll miss him on the road,

but it'll always be new riders.

My wife, I met at a show in upstate New York

because her family had a booth there

and she used to work that booth when she was younger.

So because she understood the lifestyle

that is the renaissance festival,

you know, we, we connected

and, and thankfully we're still together.

Do you wanna be on camera? Is that what you're saying?

You wanna tell everybody how awesome your dad is?

My little girl loves faires.

Like, she loves the fantasy of it.

Like some of my favorite pictures

of her in a fairy costume cheering me on.

Like, how cool is that?

You know, that, that my little girl gets to see

that and enjoy that.

But then, you know, like, I, I have to make a choice.

Am I gonna be home this weekend

or am I gonna go be there for the joust team

to keep 'em going because I love this thing, you know,

like I make that choice like, you know, get kind

of a financial slap in the face, you know?

And then I go home

and then I have a disappointed little girl.

I have a-a-a- a wife that misses me

you know?

And, and I miss her.

Like I would love for her

to go with me to all these venues,

but the company can't afford to fly both of us out.

Like I love going places with my wife.

Like, and when I can't take her with me, it sucks.

All this risk, all this emotion,

all this danger. Is it worth it?

That's the question, isn't it?

I've spent so many years doing it

that the bad things avoided me in a lot of ways.

So I never thought about it as old.

I got older and I, I have a family that I love

and my daughter who I wanna see grow up.

When you all of a sudden start having something to lose,

then your mindset changes a little bit.

You lose that shell of immortality

that you create when you're going into a combat situation.

For me it was worth it. I enjoyed my career

and I enjoyed my time.

I will not say last time to do this tournament at Sherwood,

you know, but definitely not traveling anymore.

So I don't know, I don't know what the future holds.

I don't want to say absolute,

but I definitely know that, you know,

I'm in twilight right now.

It's a, it's a exploration process at this moment.

Like I still very much have the artist mindset

where I want to be doing a job that

I'm very passionate about.

So like right now I love coaching martial arts

and I'm focusing on that,

but I also gotta focus on paying the bills.

So I have to take a job to just do that.

I've been chasing background acting a little

bit to explore that.

You know, maybe if I meet the right people I can break into

to doing some, you know, stunt work with the horses

or wrangling or something along those lines.

So like I won't ever put a finality

to anything just at this moment.

I know I need a very long break from it.

I wanna miss it again. If I ever decide to armor up,

you know, and if I don't miss it then,

then it's, then I'm done.

You know? And I definitely right now I don't miss it.

I put my armor on again. I was like yeah so it's time.

It's just time. Well the tournament over the weekend is

pretty much where six to eight knights get together.

They compete to, you know,

claim the title a champion towards the end of it.

So there's six shows that we do

and every rider joust in those shows

and they'll compete for wins and losses.

So after we do five shows, everybody will have jousted,

everybody and then you tally who's got the

best win loss record.

If there is a clear one

and two, then they move on to the, the championship match.

My lords, my ladies

I am Sir Arundell

And it is with great pleasure and honor that I greet

each and every one of you with good day!

and we're gathered here to watch this spectacle

of a tournament joust

We have brought forth six knight combatants

that will compete against one another.

Your knight has the strength to shatter a lance

that will earn them five points

And if your knight has the skill tenacity

and fortitude to take a lance

and rip some of off the back of a horse,

that earns them 10 points.

Sir William Dudley!

Like I really wanted to win.

Like that was one of those ones where

like I could just feel it through my bones of like,

I did not wanna lose.

I mean if I would've lost it would've been fine.

'cause I was having a great match with Sam

and he's looking good dude and great jouster.

But I definitely wanted to win. Definitely, definitely.

And it's weird trying to keep that energy in such a way

of like, not letting it be toxic you know,

that it overrides your, your, your ability to be comrades

with your, your partners

and you know, just make good judgements

that are fair and right for everybody.

You know, instead of something that could be, be selfish

to get you over the top, you know.

The victor of the jousting tournament Sir William Dudley

I've been doing this 25

years and it's been great

and to finish up with this guy over here is fantastic

because he's, every bit, you know, as equal

to me, that was just one of those matches

where he missed one

and I didn't, you know, so

I couldn't have a great match without a guy like him.

Woo. That was nerve wracking.

There was a weird calm about that show,

which made me really anxious.

I'm glad that everybody's safe and they got through it

and they're both champions and they both know it.

So it was a good, it was a good job. They did a good job.

You're passionate about the joust

and you're passionate about a lot of other things,

so it'll be nice to see 'em, let those other pieces grow

and, you know, maybe be a little bit safer for a while.

That'd be nice. Less bumps and bruises.

Like, I do like to heal people,

but you know, it'd be nice to take a little break.

What do you think is next for you?

I'm trying to figure that out. In the grand scheme

of things, I'm happy.

And it's funny too, when I told my kid I was gonna stop

jousting, she's like, "but daddy, why?"

You know, I've done so much stupid stuff in my life

that the wanderlust isn't there anymore.

I've done it. Which is why like, being

with my family is nice because I'm not sitting there going,

but I need to do so much more.

I haven't done, I've done a lot

and I love everything that I've done.

There's certainly the missing of experiencing locations,

but the headache of the lifestyle, I won't lie.

It's nice having a house that's my own

and everything works in it properly.

I'll figure it out as I go along.

I know what I wanna be doing, which is things

that I'm passionate about and that's my focus.

And ideally it'll bring me to success.

And success doesn't have to be anything amazing.

It just means that, you know, my family and I are good.

We're able to enjoy our life the way that we would like to.

That'll do, that'll do, that'll do.

Everyone. Tighter. Tighter together.

Act like you know each other.

Yeah, yeah. Act like you all like each other.

Alright! Here we go!

On three. Big smile. 1, 2, 3! There we go.

Everyone say "Knight Life"

Knight Life!