Brego's first experience with armor

Brego's resume is pretty much second to none - an accomplished hunt horse, extensive eventing career including placing very well in a number of Novice level USEA events, toter of dads and small children... he is literally everything we would ever want in a horse. Top that off with his handsome good looks and willing attitude, and the only question left was whether he might make a good jousting horse. So when we were up in New Hampshire getting to know him, we brought along some of hubby's jousting armor to see what he thought of it.

The pics and videos pretty much say it all...

????

Human, you look weird.

But maybe you have foodz?

Oooh, clinky!

...but not as interesting as the lady with the hay cart over there.

Note that usually the clinking noise is what worries horses the most about armor, which is why you hear so much of it in the vids.

This one is my favorite. Brego's all "Oh hi, what exactly are you doing and can I eat it?"

So yes, we're pretty sure Brego will be able to add "kick-ass jousting horse" to his resume in fairly short order!

The longer you're gone, the harder it is to start back up again

Ok, ok, I'm back. For reals this time.

We made it home to Texas late Tuesday evening. The trip to France was very nice, the wedding went off without a hitch, and I have tons of pics that I will hopefully get around to sharing soon. I also discovered the best way to get rid of the weight that I'd gained by eating endless baguettes, brie cheese, and croissants (did I mention the chocolate croissants? No? Those too.) is to get really, really sick with a nasty stomach bug at the very end of your trip. Perhaps not ideal for your poor husband who has to put up with you being violently ill.

But enough about that.

So we are home, and the boys are well. Ok, Taran decided to have a nice impaction colic this morning that required a trip to the vet, but he's doing great this evening and should be home tomorrow. Also, our biggest rooster has started attacking people (this morning he went after hubby, repeatedly), so he is destined for the stew pot in the very near future. I'm sure he'll be delicious.

There are about a million other things to post about (we have jumps! we're going XC schooling! the saddle fitter is coming out!), but I'm running out of steam as my body is still fairly certain that it's in another time zone, so I'll just leave you with some of the promised pics from France...

 

This has to be the most opulent saddle setup I've ever seen. I believe it belonged to Napoleon. Why can't we use saddle pads like this in the dressage arena instead of those booooring white ones? Whyyyy?

 Jousting leg armor from the 16th century. These pieces were special because you can see they don't wrap all the way around the leg, but instead leave the inside leg free to make contact with the horse. The roll you see halfway up the thigh is the top of the boot, which was white leather.

 Fantastic suit of horse and rider armor from the early 1500s, German. According to the sign that went with this display, the riders armor weighted only 33 kilos. Pretty impressive considering! The armor is acid etched and done with gold leaf. Gorgeous!

 French calvary saddle from ~1750-1775. It's so interesting to see the evolution of saddles, from jousting to the more familiar modern-looking English style.

 A parade saddle from the same time period. 

 A calvary officer's saddle from the same time period, with pistol holders on the front of the saddle.

FAIL. This armor belonged to the unfortunate 23-year old Carabinier Antoine Francois Faveau, who was shot with a six-pound cannonball that smashed through his armor at the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815). Poor fellow likely had no idea what hit him.

 Slightly more recognizable curb bits from the 1700s. The shanks on the one of the left are still quite terrifyingly long, though.

LOVE this bridle. If you look closely, you'll see that the noseband and cheek pieces are integrated - that is, there is not a separate strap holding up the noseband. And look at that browband! To think that we are considered "blingy" these days if we have a few understated beads or crystals sewn on! You could positively blind a judge with this thing, coming down centerline!

I'll take two, with matching saddle pads in the Napoleonic style, natch!

We interrupt this blog silence with an update... from France!

Apparently the Interwebs aren't terribly good in France - we've been here for four days and I FINALLY have access! We're here for a family wedding in the south of France, but spent a few days in Paris to see some of the sights. Both hubby and I have been to Paris before, so we skipped some of the "standard" tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tour and the Arc de Triomphe. However, it's been almost 20 years for us, so we decided to see some of the museums we didn't remember too well.

First stop: Le Musee d'Armee (the Military Museum)

In addition to holding an impressive armor collection, Napoleon's tomb is housed in the Musee. Napoleon was adored by the French, but hated by European powers - since he and his armies kept, you know, invading their countries! This tomb is a monument to all the great social and political works he did, from building bridges and public hospitals, to enacting laws based on Justinian's code. It was a very interesting stop!

 Then on to the armor exhibits! Hubby was very excited about this find. It's a suit of 14th century armor, which is VERY rare. I have a ton of pics of this including close-ups of the clasp mechanisms and other functional details, which I won't bore you with. :)

 15th century jousting saddle. This one was particularly interesting because the pommel saddle steel is asymmetrical. My best guess is that the slightly hooked steel on the right helped the rider if they leaned over to the left for a better hit. More research is needed!

 Late 16th/early 17th century saddle. Wouldn't you LOVE to have a modern saddle covered in velvet and gorgeous stitching like this one? I guess that's why I love fancy-schmancy saddle pads so much!

 Napoleonic-era saddle. You can see it starting to transform to more of a modern English saddle style, as it's missing the thigh rolls and the very high cantle.

 Ye gods, it's a spade bit with a port and rollers and little keys, not to mention the 12 inch shanks... I can't even imagine trying to stuff this into a horse's mouth, much less riding with it! 

 Oberon would look good in a suit like this, don't you think?

 Crinet (top, it protects the horse's neck), chamfron (center, face guard), and engraved metal rein covers.  While we have functional chamfrons, we don't have the crinet or rein covers. Perhaps a new armoring project for hubby?  

 Ring and quintain lances from the 1500s. I've never seen a lance with such a fancy guard!

Detail of the engraving on a grande guard shield, used for jousting. These shields were used in the 16th century, and bolted onto the armor. Gorgeous!

A frog-mouthed helm and jousting suit. This one was particularly interesting because it had a two-foot lance rest (the spiral sticking off the back) on it. I wonder if this made aiming the lance nearly impossible, since the lance would essentially be locked into place?

Napoleon's Arabian, Vizier, is stuffed and mounted, on display in the museum. I couldn't help but take photos of his front feet for all the hoof nerds out there! He needs a good trimmer to work on that long toe on the right front, don't you agree?

I have a bunch more pictures AND Internet access for the next few days, so I'll continue to post. In between drinking wine and eating brie cheese on fresh baguettes, of course!