This weekend I was exceptionally privileged and lucky to ride (and play) a drum horse in three public displays. Jerusalem, an 18hh Clydesdale, belongs to the Welsh Horse Yeomanry, and a few re-enactors including myself were asked to help them out with a Civil War Pageant at the Centenary National Rally of the Caravan Club (an incredible gathering of 12000 people with the biggest tent I have ever seen, but that is another story).
Luckily, as I work at a boarding school I had scrounged a timpani lesson from the music department beforehand. We had two rehearsals, but somehow the foot reins didn't come out until the first performance, which I opened, so my first ever attempt to ride in footreins was in public, in an arena, whilst drumming and the absolute centre of attention! Steering was fine, but the brakes were non-existant, so I just had to grab the hand reins when I needed to stop. The saddle weighed about 50lbs so I have no idea if he was trained to seat aids or not, as I don't think he could feel anything through the massive frame built to support the drums. The footreins were quite short, so I had to have my leg as far forward as the drums would allow, and as soon as I no longer needed my hands to drum, I took my feet out of the stirrups to give him some rein. This did, however, mean that every time I went on I need someone to put my feet in the stirrups as I could neither see not reach them on my own. Manouevring took a lot of thought as we were so wide and the drums were at head height for anyone on the ground.
We had three performances, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The good was the second performance, where all the horses behaved, the other performers were great and everything went to plan with a large and happy audience.
The bad performance was unfortunately the only one the organiser could attend. It wasn't actually bad, but certainly wasn';t as polished as the good one. On Sunday the wind and rain unsettled most of the horses, the ground was slippy and Jerusalem was very keen. From being totally impervious to the drums previously, he decided that a drum or a shout was a new aid to trot, and with no brakes this meant I had to keep grabbing the hand reins. Trotting with drums on leads to very bruised knees! You can see a bit of his keenness and the excellence of the dressing of the other performers in this short clip of our final salute.
The ugly performance was our first and rather dramatic; I certainly got my 15 minutes of fame! Having done our first bit and due to go off as per the rehearsal, the organiser instead waved me to a corner of the arena to allow the next performers on. That side of the arena was formed by about fifty flags, but a quick glance showed that they were not stayed, so I tucked myself into the corner and awaited further instructions. I was happily sitting there, with no stirrups so that Jerusalem have a stretch, when he sidled a bit, and then all hell broke loose. He bolted across the arena with drums bouncing and me clinging on for grim death and desperately trying to stop him as he headed straight for the flimsy single crowd rope and a crowded section of the audience. Thankfully I managed to pull him up in just in time, to a great gasp of relief and round of applause (!). When I looked behind, I realised that out of the 50 or so flags, there was ONE with a guy which I hadn't seen, and Jerusalem had stepped on it with his near hind, it somehow got caught between his hoof and his shoe, and it was still attached, so we had pulled over a forty foot flagpole across the arena! Someone quickly untangled the rope and two people led us from the arena, but as soon as we were out Jerusalem settled right down and was fine. I have to say that looking a the ground from 18hh certainly gives one a stickier seat! I was NOT going to fall!
For the rest of the weekend I had members of the public coming up and congratulating me, as if I had done something heroic rather than just clinging on and stopping him - I have never felt to famous! I do hope someone captured it on film as it would be fascinating to see what actually happened. There was a group of children waiting to come in very close to the flag, and if the pole hadn't come down in an empty part of the arena then goodness knows what could have happened. As it I was, I ended up with a few bruises from the saddle arch supporting the drums, and the only casualties were the drumsticks which were broken. It could have been a very different outcome.
So a rather memorable and unique weekend. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity, and in fact felt quite emotional as I crossed my drumsticks over my head in salute the first time. A big thank you to the Welsh Horse Yeomanry for letting me a play with "Big J".
Luckily, as I work at a boarding school I had scrounged a timpani lesson from the music department beforehand. We had two rehearsals, but somehow the foot reins didn't come out until the first performance, which I opened, so my first ever attempt to ride in footreins was in public, in an arena, whilst drumming and the absolute centre of attention! Steering was fine, but the brakes were non-existant, so I just had to grab the hand reins when I needed to stop. The saddle weighed about 50lbs so I have no idea if he was trained to seat aids or not, as I don't think he could feel anything through the massive frame built to support the drums. The footreins were quite short, so I had to have my leg as far forward as the drums would allow, and as soon as I no longer needed my hands to drum, I took my feet out of the stirrups to give him some rein. This did, however, mean that every time I went on I need someone to put my feet in the stirrups as I could neither see not reach them on my own. Manouevring took a lot of thought as we were so wide and the drums were at head height for anyone on the ground.
We had three performances, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The good was the second performance, where all the horses behaved, the other performers were great and everything went to plan with a large and happy audience.
The bad performance was unfortunately the only one the organiser could attend. It wasn't actually bad, but certainly wasn';t as polished as the good one. On Sunday the wind and rain unsettled most of the horses, the ground was slippy and Jerusalem was very keen. From being totally impervious to the drums previously, he decided that a drum or a shout was a new aid to trot, and with no brakes this meant I had to keep grabbing the hand reins. Trotting with drums on leads to very bruised knees! You can see a bit of his keenness and the excellence of the dressing of the other performers in this short clip of our final salute.
The ugly performance was our first and rather dramatic; I certainly got my 15 minutes of fame! Having done our first bit and due to go off as per the rehearsal, the organiser instead waved me to a corner of the arena to allow the next performers on. That side of the arena was formed by about fifty flags, but a quick glance showed that they were not stayed, so I tucked myself into the corner and awaited further instructions. I was happily sitting there, with no stirrups so that Jerusalem have a stretch, when he sidled a bit, and then all hell broke loose. He bolted across the arena with drums bouncing and me clinging on for grim death and desperately trying to stop him as he headed straight for the flimsy single crowd rope and a crowded section of the audience. Thankfully I managed to pull him up in just in time, to a great gasp of relief and round of applause (!). When I looked behind, I realised that out of the 50 or so flags, there was ONE with a guy which I hadn't seen, and Jerusalem had stepped on it with his near hind, it somehow got caught between his hoof and his shoe, and it was still attached, so we had pulled over a forty foot flagpole across the arena! Someone quickly untangled the rope and two people led us from the arena, but as soon as we were out Jerusalem settled right down and was fine. I have to say that looking a the ground from 18hh certainly gives one a stickier seat! I was NOT going to fall!
For the rest of the weekend I had members of the public coming up and congratulating me, as if I had done something heroic rather than just clinging on and stopping him - I have never felt to famous! I do hope someone captured it on film as it would be fascinating to see what actually happened. There was a group of children waiting to come in very close to the flag, and if the pole hadn't come down in an empty part of the arena then goodness knows what could have happened. As it I was, I ended up with a few bruises from the saddle arch supporting the drums, and the only casualties were the drumsticks which were broken. It could have been a very different outcome.
So a rather memorable and unique weekend. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity, and in fact felt quite emotional as I crossed my drumsticks over my head in salute the first time. A big thank you to the Welsh Horse Yeomanry for letting me a play with "Big J".
Bolting across the arena on an 18hh horse not holding onto any reins coz they're attached to your feet sounds positively terrifying! I'm glad you survived the experience, and managed to prevent any public getting trampled!
