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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Just as grappling can be done from the saddle, so can disarms. For the Blue Spur you will need to show how to: Conduct three disarms from the falsemount at the halt and in motion "In motion" means at the walk. Disarms are typically conducted when riders are at a standstill or their horses are…
Swordplay from the Ground: Armed Grapples and Disarms Sometimes, despite having a yard of steel in hand, the best option is not to "stick'em with the pointy end." Whether its because you are too close for blade play, or because you're worried that slicing your opponent open will devalue him on the ransom market, the…
This is an exciting final week of the month at Academie Duello. I am getting ready to day for an event at the Vancouver Shakespeare festival, Bard on the Beach, for the launch of CC Humphreys latest novel Shakespeare's Rebel. We're doing a prize playing amongst senior Academie Duello students as well as choreographed fights…
Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July to our friends in Canada and the US, respectively. We just finished marching our way through the streets of Vancouver with 65 of us showing off our swordplay skills for a very enthusiastic crowd. Let me tell you, this gives me no small respect for our historical brethren…
This week at Academie Duello we're deepening our study of the rapier with further use of the offhand, dagger, and disarms. We're also checking in regularly on our work with the sidesword, this week with a series of excellent cutting exercises. Meanwhile we've started shooting new longsword content from our Longsword Focus classes. So look…
Read More... from Lesson Videos: Rapier offhand, dagger, and disarms as well as sidesword cutting
It's the turn of a new month so again our curriculum focus shifts. This month Green Cords (level 1) will be learning to use their offhand to support their defence, Blue Cords (level 2) will be stepping into the fundamentals of Rapier and Dagger, and Red Cords (level 3) are working into rapier disarms with…