At the end of July through beginning of August we had another set of students go through our Mounted Combat Intensive. As always, we held a playday on the last day, but this year we decided to open it up to other riders. Along with some of our regular participants, we were delighted to be…
Read More... from East Meets West in our Mounted Combat Program
Chances are, if you’re a member of Academie Duello, you started your path to mastery the same way I did: choosing a fundamentals class, learning the basic concepts of your chosen discipline, earning your green cord, and receiving your Academie Duello black binder upon conclusion of the course. Then comes the next step: transitioning from…
Read More... from After Fundamentals - Approaching the Green Cord Curriculum
Language is what makes memorization possible. Memorization is what makes analysis and improvement possible. Technical jargon can seem like a burden when you're first learning a martial art. European martial arts in particular have dozens of guard names, positions, attack types, and terms for movements of the sword and body. It can be daunting when…
Summer's in full swing here at Cornwall Ridge, and there are plenty of opportunities to swing a sword and ride horse with us. Start with the Mounted Combat Arts Intensive coming up in a week's time, join us for a playday on August 4th, and get back into the saddle with weekly adult classes or week-long kids' camps.
If you’re anything like me, then the reason you walked through the door at Duello was probably because you peered through a window one day with childlike wonder, fascinated at the scene before you. Rows of people, faces expressing the same glee I felt, all swinging swords at each other. I remember feeling, with absolute…
At the beginning of July I had the pleasure of once again being a Ring Director, Judge, and Instructor at Lord Baltimore's Challenge in Washington, DC. This event aims to be a meeting of Historical European Martial Arts practitioners from HEMA clubs and from historical re-enactment backgrounds (primarily the Society for Creative Anachronism). The focus…
Read More... from Lord Baltimore's Challenge Event Report 2019
Hello there! My name's Dan, I'm a green cord student of 9 months at Academie Duello. I've been offered the opportunity of creating content for the school's blog for the foreseeable future, focusing on bringing you updates on all things sword related. This week, we look at overcoming one of the most formidable opponents out…
This past week I hosted a free online webinar about how to take a technique learned in class and make it something that is actually an internalized skill. This is a process that is well understood in sport science but very under-practiced within HEMA. The norm in many clubs and study groups is simply to…
If you don't live in the BC Lower Mainland, here are three ways you can still learn Mounted Combat with Academie Duello.
Horsemanship Level 1: Stabling Aside from food, which was covered in last week’s post, a horse needs shelter and security. These topics are both covered in the linked blog posts. For the Horsemanship 1 test we ask about Stabling: needs and habits of the horse Along with reference to food, secure fencing, and shelter, we…
Read More... from A Stable Situation: needs and habits of the horse
Horsemanship Level 1: Basic Feeding First of all, go and re-read this post on my own blog, which covers basic feeding. There is an entire science to equine nutrition, but for Horsemanship level 1 test we ask specifically about: Basic feeding: succulents, grain, roughage & water And here are the short answers we’re looking for.…
Horsemanship Level 1: Untacking After your ride, the work’s not done. All that tack has to come off and your horse needs to be groomed again. The next part of our Horsemanship Level 1 checklist is Untack & clean bit Once more we’ll join Ali & Noah, for a great video: Although quite complete for…
A week ago I had the distinct pleasure to be part of Winnipeg's first international tournament and workshop event, enjoyably titled: It's Only A Flesh Wound! This event was hosted by Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy headed by Chad McFarland with support from Winnipeg's two other HEMA groups, Winnipeg Broadsword (Jay Maas) and Winnipeg…