The Men of Jousting

Sir Orindayne announces the entrance of the knights to the crowd.

 

Sir Viktor Thorn gleams in the applause of the crowd.

Sir William Dudley comforts his horse after a jousting pass.

The knights combat upon horseback scoring points for strikes.

       Sir William Dudley holds his broken lance after a pass in the joust.

 

The knights ride at each other breaking lances in a jousting pass.

At the Sherwood Forrest Faire just outside of Austin, one attraction is full contact jousting amongst knights. The New Riders of the Golden Age is one of the oldest jousting companies in the country traveling from coast to coast entertaining crowds.

The jousting passes are real and not predetermined by a script, says rider David Schade, “We ride at each other with every intention of breaking a lance or de-horsing our opponent.”

Sir Orindayne played by Ryan Scammon joined the company in 2007 as a ”part time gentleman” also working in a winery in upper state New York. He jokingly explained, “I decided to join up and run around the country and be an idiot for a while.”

David Schade, who plays Sir William Dudley, says he enjoys the combativeness and the thought process involved in such a stimulating sport. He has been with the company full time for fifteen years. He joined after attending a renaissance fair explaining, “one thing lead to another and five weeks later I’m getting hit in the face for a living.”

Schade said he originally joined the company for the jousting then found a passion in the horses. The War Horse Production company the group is based out of, boasts the only money winning draft horses in the National Reigning Horse Association. Schade said he puts extra time into training the horses in an attempt to obtain a level of proficiency to show horses. He says, “it’s something I threw myself into and never looked back.”