August 2022 Issue

The News East Coast Horse Owners Need To Know OUR TH YEAR 1 3 - PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 280 LANC., PA 17604 Vol. 29 No. 7 August 2022 (Continued on page 6) By Lois Szymanski Twenty-three-year-old Mikayla Miller of St. Leonard, MD was about eight years old when she first tried jousting. She said she didn’t do well the first time, but with lots of practice and many jousting tournaments she “got better and better.” There’s no doubt she did im- prove, because Mikayla won the 3rd Garleton Lodge International Tilting Tournament at Rockrose Equestrian Sports Centre in Scot- land on May 14th. The competition drew riders from Scotland, the Nether- lands, and the United States and included jousting, Maryland’s State sport, as well as a Scottish variation called “tilting.” Instead of three rings (each suspended from one of three arches), tilting has one arch. “In tilting, they have one arch that they call a gallow, and rope on the side that is just wide enough for a horse to fit through,” Mikayla said. “They can raise the height of the ring, where in jousting the ring height stays the same. In jousting we run three arches three times. In tilting, your normally go through for a single ring 24 times, but we only did 12. The ring height is adjustable for tilting, unlike the standard height of 6’9” here in Maryland.” Mikayla’s mom, Barba- ra Miller, is secretary of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association (MJTA). She shared how folks from Scotland found information about the club on- line, making first contact in 2016. Then, in May 2017, Jan Simpson, owner of Elvingston Stud in Scotland, and Scott Rodgers trav- eled to the United States from Scotland for the first international competition. Scottish Tilting Riding Club treasurer, Scott Rodgerson was along for the trip. He said he Maryland Residents Sweep International Tilting & Jousting Tournament quickly adapted to the differences in jousting and tilting. “It was great fun, and we were so lucky everyone was extremely welcoming and helpful,” he said. Barbara recalled that things grew from there. “They invited some riders to go [to Scotland] for a tournament in October 2017. We had three rid- ers: Shannon Allen, Stacey Gail, and Mikayla Miller. The Scottish Tilting Riding Club housed us and planned many events and excur- sions to help us enjoy the sights around Edinburgh while we were there. Each person was responsible for their own expenses. Mikayla ended up being the first Garleton Lodge International Tilting Cham- pion. She placed first in the Open Class and was named the Overall Tournament Champion. “Four Scottish riders re- turned to Maryland in May 2018. Our three original riders hosted these riders and planned excur- sions for them to enjoy in our area. Another tournament was to be held in Scotland in 2019, but Maryland riders were unable to attend. Denmark participated that year, and a Danish gentleman was the second Garleton Tournament Champion. We all had our airline tickets for the planned Scotland tournament in 2020, but COVID changed those plans. That tour- nament was rescheduled for May 2022. This time our riders were Stacey Gail and Mikayla.” At this year’s international competition, Mikayla competed in both tilting and ring jousting, winning both. She also caught the highest number of rings, taking overall champion. Right behind Miller in the competition was Stacey Gail of Fallston, MD, who took second place in jousting. She took fifth in the Tilting Open Class, while Mikayla placed first, after winning tie-off rides with Scottish rider, Jan Simpson. “I’ve been around jousting my whole life,” Stacey said. “My mom has been jousting her whole life, too. I started competing at age six. Back then, I had an amazing Arabian whose name Stacey Gail, Fallston, MD, competes in the tilting portion of the third Garleton Lodge International Tilting Tournament at Rockrose Equestrian Sports Centre in Scotland in May. The tournament drew jousters from the US, the Netherlands and Scotland. Mikayla Miller, St. Leonard, MD, won both the jousting and tilting portions and Stacey placed second in jousting. Photo credit: Barbara Miller Inside... Fall Fix Up feature... pgs. 8-14 Sidesaddle pro Regina Kear Reid’s memoir becomes a YA novel … pg. 7 Popular Derby @ the Vineyard – show jumping among the grapevines … pg. 15 …and much more!