“Where’s the Fire?” asked Christopher Sommer in the last moments of a podcast I was listening to last week. Sommer is the Head Coach of the USA JR National Gymnastics Team and runs an online strength training program called Gymnastic Bodies (which is absolutely worth checking out). When I started listening, I anticipated hearing from him…
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Please join us in welcoming Red Colt's new resident caretakers, Elise Marquis and Graham Dube! Elise and Graham moved in at the end of April, and we are thrilled to have them join our team. Over the past year there has been a fair amount of upheaval at the barn with co-op members pulling in…
A few weeks ago I delivered a talk at TEDx EastVan. The talk focused on something I am passionate about: inspiring others to pursue and master movement. Swordplay and the Lost Art of Knighthood | Devon Boorman | TEDxEastVanWatch this video on YouTube In the talk I delve into why I believe it’s vital to…
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With new series of Riding, Horsemanship and Mounted Combat having just started, I thought it may be useful to re-post links to blogs which cover topics in the curriculum. You can use these blog posts as refreshers and checklists to support the material taught in classes. Each group of posts is searchable under tags such…
The use of violence and the threat of violence to force someone to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do is not only universally regarded as wrong, it is also universally regarded as unavoidable. I just read a great article on Kotaku about the short series in Calvin and Hobbes that featured the bully Moe: http://kotaku.com/a-string-of-upsetting-calvin-hobbes-strips-told-a-bol-1777424191 So…
I have gone from being able to do 100 push-ups in a set to not being able to do one and back again. I spent years developing myself as a fencer only to have to tear down what I’d built and start from scratch. Years ago I could touch my toes without bending my legs, sometime in…
With buzz in the air about breeding Flavie, we thought we'd make this week's blog all about babies. Did you know? A newborn horse is called a foal. Female young horses are known as fillies, and male young horses are known as colts. Adult females are mares and adults males are stallions -- or geldings…
Okay. This is Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the movie adaptation of Assassin's Creed. Let's do this. Assassin's Creed Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard Movie HDWatch this video on YouTube Is that the story of Assassin's Creed? Also, why's he running around? Also... I don't understand anything that happened there.…
This past week during my polearms class one of my students, who is hard of hearing, asked me to put on a wireless microphone (worn as a necklace). This microphone connects to a receiver in his hearing aids that allows him to hear me more clearly regardless of where I am in class, which way…
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Help Us Breed FlavieWatch this video on YouTube A short history of the Canadian Horse The Cheval Canadien originated in Québec in the late 1600s with horses sent to Canada by Louis XIV of France. Bred from Spanish, Breton, and Norman stock, only the hardiest animals survived the infamous Canadian winters, and these horses grew…
Although Bartitsu does not draw from the Italian traditions, the four hand positions clearly match. Especially for the rapier students at Academie Duello who are also Bartitsuka, I present “Boxing Interpreted as Italian Sword” without further commentary: Prima This pairs with what I call "over-pronated" punches, and what some mistakenly call "the chopper". Seconda This…
Popular media is pushing people towards an interest in historical swordplay. But how do those same people find a school in which they can explore their new interest? Chances are, they’ve seen a demonstration of swordplay on television or at a local event -- an event that is not necessarily dominated by swords or swordspersons.…
Read More... from Professionally Responsible Sword Press: News for April 2016
“You see first with your mind, then with your eyes, then finally it is in your body." -- Yagyu Munenori. Family Traditions on the Art of War, 17th century. Stuck In Your Head Whether it’s swordplay, dancing, or driving a car, when you first learn a skill it exists within the conscious learning part of the…