With the evenings getting shorter, its time to switch the hours of our Riding & Horsemanship classes back to Sunday mornings. This is your last chance to get a series of classes in before our winter break!
Autumn Riding, Horsemanship, and Mounted Combat
Youth Riding & Horsemanship
This course for kids aged 6-13 will introduce your child to ponies and horses in safe, fun, and friendly series of six classes taught by Pony Club qualified instructors. Each class contains a riding lesson as well as a horsemanship lesson, where students will learn to handle, groom, and care for ponies and horses. The curriculum follows the Canadian Pony Club D level lessons and will prepare students for testing Academie Duello Mounted Combat Riding 1 or Pony Club D Level.
Thursdays 4pm – 6pm
26 October - 30 November
cost: $300 + gst for 6 classes
instructor: Isabel Landels
Beginner Riding & Horsemanship
If you’ve never been on a horse, or if it’s been a long time, here’s the place to start. When you arrive at the barn at 11am, you’ll begin with a horsemanship lesson, familiarizing yourself with the horses and their tack, as well as how to groom, handle and tack them up. Then you will have a riding lesson, working through the requirements of Riding Level 1 — the prerequisite to most of the fun stuff we do on horseback!
Sundays 10am - noon
29 October - 3 December
cost: $300 + gst for 6 classes*
Instructors: Stephanie Laversin & Eleanor Landels
Level 2 Riding & Horsemanship
This course is intended for riders who have taken classes through the program and are comfortable tacking up their own horses.
Sundays 11am - 1pm
29 October - 3 December
cost: $300 + gst for 6 classes*
instructors: Stephanie Laversin & Isabel Landels
Mounted Combat Fundamentals
This 6-week series of classes will give you the basics of swordplay from the ground to prepare you for fighting from horseback. Participants at this level will practise from the ground and the falsemount to achieve the combat skills needed to attain the rank of Green Spur. Students who have their Riding and Horsemanship Level 1 and who attend all five classes can reasonably expect to attain their Green Spur by the end of the series. Once you have your Green Spur, you can sign up for Intermediate Mounted Combat, and can spar in our regular Playday event, as well as competing in our annual Carosella tournament.
Sundays 1pm – 3pm
29 October - 3 December
cost: $135 + gst for 6 classes*
instructor: Aaron Lamontagne
*get a $25 discount when you sign up for both Mounted Combat Fundamentals and either Beginner or Level 2 Riding & Horsemanship
Riding Level 3+
This class is intended for independent riders who have achieved Level 2 or higher. Riders are expected to be tacked up and warmed up prior to class. Your own helmets, boots, and half chaps are recommended, as are safety vests for the occasional cross-country class, weather permitting.
Sundays 10am - 11am
29 October - 3 December
cost: $200 + gst for 6 classes
instructor: Stephanie Laversin
Ongoing Mounted Combat Mastery classes
These 2-hour sessions focus on the weapons skills needed to progress through the ranks of the program including longsword, sidesword, spear, and grappling. Academie Duello members with tuition packages and a green cord can take the classes from the ground using tuition credits. Those with a Green Spur or higher may participate either on horseback or on the ground.
Sundays noon – 2pm
cost: 2 hours tuition, plus $10 for use of a school horse
instructor: Jennifer Landels
All classes take place at Red Colt Equestrian Farm Co-op, 12320 No 2 Road, Richmond. You can register for classes in person at the front desk, by calling 604 568 9907, or online here.
Jennifer Landels heads up Academie Duello's Cavaliere Program. She has been swordfighting since 2008, and riding since before she could walk. She started the program as an excuse to combine those passions. Read more from Jennifer Landels.