Horse & Hound – 08 August 2019

16 Horse& Hound8 August 2019

The jouster

HistoricalhorsemanDominicSewellonthehonourof

reburyingKingRichardIIIandhackingoutwitha spear

Equestrianfashion

entrepreneur

Jordan McCabe

NEXT

WEEK

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

Itwasn’tuntilI becamea

reenactorinmylate20sthatI

sawthepotentialforhistorical

riding.I satona horseonceinmy

earlyteens,butdidn’tpursueit

anyfurther.

Therewerea fewcavalry

reenactmentgroupsaroundin

the1990s,butnothingreally

medieval.Soa groupofuskicked

thisoffin 1996 attheBattleof

Tewkesbury(1471)reenactment,

formingjoustinggroupDestrier.

Afterfindingmyselfcantering

outofcontrolatgreatspeed,I

realisedI neededtolearna lot

moreaboutriding.I tooklessons

atmylocalstablesandtheyhelped

megetintothegroove.I started

workingthere,too, learning from

thegroundup.

Eventually,I quitmydayjob

asa teachingassistantand

formedHistoricEquitation.

Myyardis nearKettering,

Northamptonshire, and we have

11 horses.It’sa fullyprepared

tournamentyard,withequipment

setupallthetime,andjousting

formsabout60%ofourincome.

Wedotournaments,displays

andreenactments,fromNorman

cavalryattheBattleofHastings

(1066)rightupto 1660 with

classicalridingintheDukeof

Newcastle’soriginalridinghouse

atBolsover.You’llseeusatmany

events,includingatCarisbrooke

CastleandAlnwickCastleeach

August,whicharetheonly

solid-lancejoustingcompetitions

inEngland.

Ialsorodeinthe 2015 pageant

toreburytheremainsofKing

RichardIIIinLeicester, which

wasa realhonour.

It’s24/7, 365 daysa yearjob,
butI enjoyitmorethanever,if
that’spossible.It’ssowonderful
towakeupinthemorning,spend
a fewhoursintheofficeandthen
goouttotheyardtotrain.I know
Picture by Sam Gostner more and get more out of my

‘Oncea horseiscapable,

weintroduceridingwith

a spearorjusta long

stick, even out hacking’

horsesnow.I hopetodothisuntil

thedayI’mputina box.

We’rebringinginnewclients

allthetime—fromprivatepupils

tolargeorganisations,suchas

EnglishHeritage.Interacting

withclientsandthebusinessside

ofshowscanbechallenging.You

alwayshavetobethinkingabout

whatyou’redoingnext.Travelling

withhorses,especiallywhenit’s

busy,canbetiresome.Itcanbe

toughforpeopletounderstand

howserious historical recreation

canbe.

Traininginvolvesschooling

anda lotofdesensitisationto

theswords,lances,noisesand

flags.Oncea horseis goingwell,

weintroduceridingwitha spear,

lanceorevenjusta longstickin

onehand,andhackingaroundthe

roadswiththem,too.

I havegotquitea name

formyselflocallyasa

result.Peopleask:“Who’s

that bloke riding around

witha bigstick?What does he

thinkhe’sdoing?”

I lookforhorsesthatareeasy

tohandleontheground,show

interest,andaren’tparticularly

scared.I wouldn’truleout

a 15-year-oldif it hadgood

groundworkandlotsofuseful

experiences.

If I’mbuyingoneformyself

specificallyorfora particular

job,I oftengotomycontactsin

Spainandwecheckouthorses

together.Thenit willgenerally

beyoungsterswelookat—I

likethat,becauseI reallyenjoy

spendingtimewiththemand

bringingthemon.Hopefullyby

nowI’mnotmakingmistakes —

oratleastnotasmany.

Hawthorn,a favouriteofmine,

had“beenthereanddoneit”,

andwasoneofthebestjousting

horsesoutthere.Hepassedaged

28.ThenI learnedyouhaveto

keepnewbloodcomingin.

NowI haveIcaro,a Spanish

stallionwhois becomingmygo-to

horse.ButHawthornwassucha

wonderfulhorse.I misshimvery

much.H&H

●As told to Fleur Doidge