Panteria XX, in the Shire of Panthervale in the East Kingdom was held this past Memorial Day weekend in Vermont. We saw a big jump in the number of horse attending, from the usual 6 or 7 to 11 horses this time, including 4 for whom this was the horse’s first event. They all did extremely well. My thanks to all the riders, ground-crew and horse owners for a terrific weekend with no injuries or incidents. Extra bonus thanks to the kitcheners who sent lunch up to us at the barn!
We did a Gambler’s Choice challenge course, where the riders each had 3 minutes to rack up as many points as possible from an array of different obstacles. Gambler’s Choice was won by Master Julian le Scot riding Galen, who beat Lady Lasairfhiona Inghean Cheallaigh by just a single point. Later that afternoon, Sir Ankara led a few rounds of Tippet Tag to introduce the horses and riders to the basics of mounted combat. Hopefully someone got video, because it was hilarious to watch and quite a bit of fun to play. On Sunday we did skill games in lanes – spearing rings, hitting heads and knocking down targets while passing a horse heading in the opposite direction in the other lane. Sir Ankara had the highest score, followed by Master Julian. The weekend concluded with a jousting demo. The demo was originally scheduled as a balsa jousting competition between two experienced jousters, but Master Julian’s horse had had enough by that point in the weekend. Instead we took the opportunity to train a horse that was new to the joust, Medallion. The basics of working in a lane and working around armor having been done already, Master Julian and Sir Ankara took Medallion through being ridden by an armored rider and having his rider strike the oncoming rider with a lance as well as having his rider by struck by a lance. The audience assembled for the demo seemed to enjoy watching the teaching process and meeting the horses and jousters afterwards.
Lane game scores: Sir Ankara on Thunder: 45 points Master Julian on Galen: 39 points Mistress Eleanor on Medallion: 33 points Lady Lasairfhiona on Bailey: 30 points Sir Artos on Oleandra: 28 points Mistress Ellen on Taro: 24 points Lady Walpurga on Oleandra: 24 points Baroness Lillian on Medallion and Bailey: 21 points Baron Duncan on Medallion and Thunder: 15 points
Gamblers Choice scores will be forthcoming if I can locate the paper they’re written on.
Report submitted by Mistress Eleanor fitzPatrick, Equestrian Marshal in Charge for Panteria XX.
