Radar Goddard (left) and Stephane Tremblay do battle with lances as they meet and lance fragments fly through the air. (Richard McGuire photo)
Hundreds of people turned out at Desert Park over the long weekend to watch knights in shining armour face each other on horseback for medieval jousting.
The event was performed by the Society of Tilt and Lance Cavalry (STALC) from the Calgary area.
During twice daily shows over three days, knights on horseback charged towards each other, separated by a rope barrier. Holding out long pine wood lances, they tried to strike and shatter the lances of their opponents.
The lances were scored to break into segments when they were struck, often sending wood segments flying into the air.
More points could be won by knocking an opponent off his or her horse, but the only time this happened when the Osoyoos Times was present, it appeared to be accidental.
Knight Stephane Tremblay, from the Montreal area, was struck in the face with a lance held by Ripper Moore, from Oregon on Sunday.
Although the knights wear armour over their faces, with barely a slit to see, Tremblay sustained a heavy blow and was checked over by St. John’s Ambulance personnel as squires helped him remove the armour over his head.
Soon after, he was back on his feet, bowing to the audience, shaken, but still very much alive.
Tremblay wasn’t the only one injured. Radar Goddard, founder, senior knight and president, received minor injuries Saturday and Sunday and sent to hospital with a concussion on Monday.
Moore, riding on Peter Horn, was declared the champion in noon jousts both Saturday and Sunday.
Some of the horses were better suited to the sport than others. Tremblay’s horse Rowan was a crowd favourite on Sunday, but another horse, Jack, ridden by Dale Thwaites, sometimes seemed content to saunter at a slow walk.
The horses are rescue horses and so their pedigree isn’t always known, but some are partly Percheron, a muscular draft horse.
Paddy Head, organizer of the event, joked that one of the horses that stood 17 hands tall, was part elephant.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Spectators packed the bleachers at Desert Park to watch the jousting on Sunday. (Richard McGuire photo)
A pine wood lance shatters as Ripper Moore (left) meets Stephane Tremblay in a joust on Saturday. (Richard McGuire photo)
A pine wood lance shatters as Ripper Moore (left) meets Stephane Tremblay in a joust on Saturday. (Richard McGuire photo)
Esme Szudek, 5, from Vernon pets Peter Horn, the horse of Ripper Moore, named Peter Horn, during the meet and greet after Saturday’s joust. (Richard McGuire photo)
Stephane Tremblay (left) and Radar Goddard do battle with lances as they meet and lance fragments fly through the air. (Richard McGuire photo)
Stephane Tremblay (left) and Ripper Moore do battle with lances as they meet and lance fragments fly through the air. (Richard McGuire photo)
Stephane Tremblay (left) receives a lance in the face from opponent Ripper Moore. Although his face was well covered with armour, Tremblay was stunned and was checked over and helped to his feet by paramedics. (Richard McGuire photo)
Stephane Tremblay is checked by paramedics as squires helps remove his armour after he was struck in the face with a lance. (Richard McGuire photo)
Stephane Tremblay is helped to his feet by paramedics after they checked him over. He was struck in the face with a lance, but survived the blow. (Richard McGuire photo)
Ripper Moore, from Oregon, was the champion at noon jousts on Saturday and Sunday. (Richard McGuire photo)
