World Joust

[J Edwards Monarch]

I am curious as to what you all expect of the ground crews you count on for the jousts?

I know that a good ground crew is imperative to the running of the lists, and are as good as gold, and I have several people in the midwest who have been volunteering to do ground crews for this summers jousts and am wondering what I can get them going on, and hwo to better prepare them for upcoming jousts.

Thanks!

[Gwen]

This is something we talk about a lot, as ground crew are essential to running an event. We give or crew the basics at Knight School, but with people coming and going it's sometimes hard to remember who you told what to. This was made painfully obvious to us at the first joust when we had a guy on the field replacing tips who had absolutely NO idea at all what he was doing--he had been around, and everyone just *assumed* he knew what he was doing.

[Edit] After I posted this I started thinking that the same guy who didn't know how to load lances in Nov of '07 was seriously bitten by the jousting bug at that event. In the intervening 26 months he learned how to ride, got himself armour, and broke his first lances at the February Knight School. (Here's he's taking some warmup runs at the quintain before actually breaking lances with Jeff.)



We're about to push him out of the nest and get him going to events! Very cool.

Anyway, back to ground crew. I've been meaning to write up some notes or an outline that we could go over to make sure everybody knew what they needed to know. Thinking about how to answer you has made me actually start that process, and I'll be happy to post those notes shortly.

It will be very interesting to see what other people think as well!!

Gwen

[Gwen]

Here are my notes:

General safety
Be alert at all times- NO DAYDREAMING!!
Pay attention to the directions of the Ground Supervisor.
Never run near the horses. Running tends to trigger their ‘fight or flight’ reflex.
Talk to the horses when you can. It calms them down.
Pat their neck if it is safe to do so. It reassures the nervous and calms the high strung
Give the knight a quick once-over after every run- look for loose armour pieces, broken tack, injuries to the horse, loose shoes, etc.


Horses
Safety first- if you’re not sure how to respond to a situation, stay out of the way
Never run near the horses. Running tends to trigger their ‘fight or flight’ reflex.
Talk to the horses when you can. It calms them down.
Pat their neck if it is safe to do so. It reassures the nervous and calms the high strung.
Never chase a horse with a lance. If the horse is acting up, stand still and the knight will come to you.
Never chase a horse if it is loose. Chasing it will only make it run away faster.
If a horse is loose, check to make sure one person has gone to the aid of the downed rider, then attend to the horse. One person to the rider, many for the horse.
Work with the other ground crew to corral a loose horse. Hold your arms out to the side and approach calmly, speaking soothingly and reassuringly. If you have treats, offer them.
Give the horse a quick once-over after every run- look for injuries, lameness, broken tack, etc.
Tell the knight if there is a problem with his horse.
Remember the horse is an essential part of the team- encourage him, praise him and let him know he’s doing a good job.
Try to spend some time in the stable in the morning, familiarizing yourself with the horses, and them with you. Pat them, talk to them, offer them treats. That way you won't be a stranger to them on the field.

Lance handling
Pay attention to the knight and follow his directions.
Keep your eye on the horse- don’t get in the way, stepped on or hit the horse with the lance.
Never chase a horse with a lance. If the horse is acting up, stand still and the knight will come to you.
Be ready to put the lance in the knight’s hand when he puts his hand out.
Make sure he has a good grip on the lance before letting go.
Be ready to tell him what’s happening with his opponent if the knight asks (‘he is armed’, ‘he’s not ready’, etc.)
When the knight takes the lance and doesn’t need you, get out of the way
DO NOT RUSH THE INCOMING KNIGHT! Let him come to you, or walk to him calmly.
Be prepared to take the lance from the incoming knight when he offers it to you.

Replacing tips
Be discrete, don’t make a big show of replacing tips
Make sure tip is inserted all the way into ferrule
Make sure tip is solid, not wobbly
Use masking tape to pad out tip if it wobbles in the ferrule
Check coronel to make sure it is not broken or damaged before using
Make sure tip is inserted all the way into coronel

[J Edwards Monarch]

Hey Gwen, do you mind if I print that out and show it to the folks who will be ground crew for us this season?

[Gwen]

Sure thing. Credit it 'Gwen Nowrick for WorldJoust Tournaments™'

I'm hoping someone else will jump in here, as I don't think I have all the good insights on this topic!

[Andrew McKinnon]

This stuff is still pretty fresh in my mind so here are a couple of things I have picked up.

Don't forget that a good squire keeps his eyes open for anything that can impede a good, clean pass.

After every pass run your eyes over the jousters kit for loose/broken straps. Look at girths and tack, torn caparisons, anything that can create problems. Feet out of stirrups can sometime need a guiding hand cause it is hard to see diddly with a helm on, let alone feel your way back in to a stirrup.

Visor catches can become loose or unlatched as well and this can create a dangerous situation.

A good squire generally knows what pass it is, what end the jousters are running from and how many have been run, who is up next and how many tipped lances they need to get them through the rounds. This can help with keeping the rounds running smoothly.

Always remember that it is important after taking a lance that the marshall/judge gets a look at the tip for scoring if necessary. So don't run away and retip before they are scored.

It is a good idea to carry spare arming points, laces just in case of kit malfunction.

It is good to have a corkscrew or 'tip knocker outterer' for want of a better term for when tip get wedged in the ferrule.

The golden rule - always make sure you have carrots handy (or apples). There is nothing more persuading to a horse that is not so keen to run a pass as slipping it a carrot (with permission) whilst handing up a lance.

It is all done with carrots.

Hope that is helpful. If I had more time I would throw in some more. It is pretty much what I have been doing for three years now while learning to joust.

[J Edwards Monarch]

Sweet! Thanks!


I am hoping to get my local ground crew up to speed and in the right mindset for this season. IE- All correct garments, presentation, etc.

This will all be very helpful!

[Gwen]

I think it makes everything look better when the ground crew is dressed well. It makes a more complete picture with everything else.



Even if something isn't entirely right, it can still fit in. I didn't have hose or shoes for Kyle, so she wore her black riding breeches and boots.



But that's just my opinion, YMMV.

Gwen