Nicole Solomon, Maid of Peace, Love and Happiness with some of her competitors at the Maryland Jousting Tournament in Knoxville, MD. Credit Lois Syzmanski.
Knights and fair ladies and horses galore…
Even though crisp, October 4th blossomed into a beautiful fall day in Knoxville, MD - perfect weather for jousting. The 80-yard track had been raked and rings were hung. Three 10-foot-tall arches, 30 yards apart, awaited riders, with the flag of Maryland fluttering in the breeze above each arch.
Spectators cheered for a colorful parade of competitors, knights and fair maids, some in medieval costume. Grand Marshall, Ron Vogel, president of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association (MJTA), read the rules aloud. Then the competition began. Jousting is one of the world’s oldest equestrian sports. When called upon to charge, each knight or fair maiden gallops his/her horse down a dirt track beneath three arches. Suspended from each arch is a metal harness holding a ring wrapped with white cord. He or she must lift the rings from the arch with a lance. The rings vary in size from 1 3/4" to 1/4 of an inch in diameter, with the smallest looking like a lifesaver candy. It is a true test of skill.
According to Vogel, riders qualify for the state competition in one of three ways; by winning a joust at a show; winning second, third or fourth place three times; or they are grandfathered in as a previous champion. But this year, because Covid limited the number of jousts held, all pro riders automatically qualified.
In jousting, each competitor takes on a fictitious name that begins with “Sir Knight” or “Fair Maid”. Many use their farm name, a favorite character or color, but there are creative and humorous names too, like Vogel’s wife’s name. She calls herself, “Fair Maid of Visa.”
“When they say, ‘Charge, Fair Maid of Visa,’ I always have to laugh,” he said, and then he did laugh out loud. “She never had any trouble whipping out her Visa!”
Formed in 1950
Vogel said the MJTA was formed in 1950 by brother and sister, George and Mary Lou Bartram.
“Prior to that time there really wasn’t a standard set of rules,” he said. “You would go to a challenge and the rules for the day would be laid out then. When they formed the MJTA it was strictly so there would be a standard set of rules, and to avoid date conflicts.”
Vogel said the horses cannot be easily distracted.
“Imagine standing up in your stirrups, putting a little bend in your knee, carrying a long lance and galloping between three arches with spectators in cars and trailers on both sides and a lot of other things going on. There is no quiet sign being held up. Things are evolving and changing on both sides of the track. You have to have total trust in your horse to not only go straight but to maintain exactly the gait that you have trained him to maintain. You are up out of the saddle, so your lower body can absorb the movement, but from waist up you are trying not to move, only to concentrate on those three rings.”
Rider, Randall McGill agreed.
“The horse has to have a mind and be well-trained to not be distracted,” he said. “One little eye movement away from one side of the track can throw you off. Inches matter.”
McGill - who took second place in the semi pro division on this day with his 24-year-old Arab gelding Savra Taz - shared other traits he thinks make a good jousting horse.
“Shorter is better, in my opinion. It’s easier when trying to get the rings. Most ride like jockeys, up off the horse. At that point, you get your best shock absorption. The idea is to look like you are on glass rails going down that track. A consistent pace is important too. There are three points of contact, the stirrups, the saddle and I also use a neck strap.”
McGill said the neck strap has become his gas pedal.
“If I grab hold of it, he knows to take off down the track. It also gives me a safety net, because if he trips or places a foot wrong, all I have to do is let go of the neck strap and my weight is back.”
In jousting, speed is important. Lead line and novice are not timed, but semi-pro and pro are timed.
“It’s nine seconds or less on the western shore of Maryland and eight seconds or less on the eastern shore. Virginia is eight seconds,” Vogel said. “Since MJTA is the sponsoring club here, they must gallop down the track and get three rings in nine seconds or less. You are allowed one time fault per class. The second time fault will give you zero rings.”
As riders raced down the track, lances held steady to catch their rings, horses stood on the sidelines with riders atop, watching the competition. Occasionally, a tie led to a ride-off. Parents led their children on horseback, children holding lances steady, practicing, learning necessary skills. Families sitting together on the sidelines cheered and laughed out loud, enjoying time together. McGill said the best thing about jousting is the comradery.
“The jousting community is like a family,” he said. “There’s a competitive spirit here, but it is all friendly. Anyone of these competitors, if they thought they could help you and give you advice to improve your riding, they would do it, even if you beat them because of it. This community is like home to me.”
Family Sport
Rider, Mason Platzke considers jousting a family sport.
“The parents can ride as much and as well as the kids. The kids can compete with their parents, instead of sitting on the sidelines. It’s enjoyable being able to compete against my daughter [Marleigh] and vice/versa. My daughter keeps me here. She really loves it. Everyone is so nice to be with. It is a good day off together.”
Crystal Asche has been jousting 22 years, since she was a kid in 4-H. She jousted with her family as a child, and now she does it with her husband.
“I love that this is a family sport,” Asche said. “For years, me, my dad and my brother all rode together, sometimes in the same class. Then, my husband got started when we were dating. I brought him along. It is something we now all do together.”
Platzke said jousting is also the easiest equestrian sport to learn.
“You have such a wide range of ability classes. You have the lead line class, where you can be walked through by Mom and Dad. You have the novice class, where you can go at any speed and you have large rings. You have success at an early age, and you can work your way up. There are four classes, so you don’t have to compete against the best rider out there until you’re ready for it.”
Marleigh is an example of someone moving up through the ranks.
“My first pony to ride was Tuney, a Chincoteague Pony,” Marleigh said. “I learned how to joust on Tuney and then I moved up to a bigger horse named Dazzle, and out of lead line and into novice. Then my dad bought me a Thoroughbred Quarter Horse cross. But now, I ride Lightning. I did pretty good today. I caught four rings. This is my first year jousting with him.”
Above all, McGill said his favorite thing about jousting is that it is not subjective.
“There are no judges. You either get the rings or you do not get the rings,” he said. “It’s rings and time and the combination of horse and rider. You are looking for precision and if you fail it is your own fault,” he said. “Too many times, at horse shows, the judging has to do with whether or not the judge has an allegiance to a family or likes a certain horse… so many things. You either catch those rings, or you don’t catch those rings. Nobody’s opinion is involved.”
Vogel spoke of how jousting gets in your blood and sticks for life.
“I was 12 and fortunate enough to live on a farm in Jessup, MD along with a bunch of youngsters, who at the time – 45 years ago – each had an acre or two, enough to have a pony. Mary Lou Bartram [co-founder of MJTA] and Alice Bloom lived in this town. She is not only the only woman jouster to win the state tournament three times, but she also won the National Championship. Alice Bloom formed a local club called the Jessup Jousters that I was a member of. She set up a jousting track to practice and I would ride my horse to the track. If you didn’t practice, you couldn’t go to the tournament. We had 12 to 15 riders of all different skillsets.
Vogel said, around the age of 16, he stopped jousting, and for 30 years the sport was absent from his life. But his wife knew how he’d loved jousting. Somewhere round 1995, she took him to a jousting clinic. Then, they both began to compete. Today, he can’t imagine his life without jousting. Other jousters shared the same sentiment.
Patting her horse, Asche talked about what the day meant to her.
“I had a baby in June. My husband had surgery in July. With all this and Covid on top of it, it is so nice to be back together today for this, to be back to some sense of normalcy.”
As the joust ended, cheers, hugs and handshakes circled the crowd forming another sort of jousting ring. It seemed that’s what this family of jousters is all about.