I was reading the Tennessee Rennaisance Festival Web page and noticed that the theme for Memorial Day weekend is a jousting tournament. Low and behold the list of jousters includes Barchan, whom I haven’t seen since I was in high school in Maryland. I’m not saying how long ago that was. 😉
Barchan was a member of the Markland Horse Guild and a founding member of Markland. My first horse-related medieval event was a Markland Horse Guild training weekend. My Mom let me take my then-green broke Arabian mare, Prize. We did all kinds of crazy things that weekend and she loved it. She was fearless. I learned how to do head of the tartar, quintain, and other cavalry training games from Barchan, Drey, Bree, and others.
When I bred Isis, I was looking for a war horse: power, movement, willingness… She has it all. Unfortunately, she has also had medical conditions that have gotten in the way of a lot of our plans. That and I can be a wimp. 😉
And here he is, so many years later, doing what he loves. I am going to have to go to the tourney just to see him. He might not remember me, but I still have all of my notes on how to train horses and build equipment.
