The Jousting Horse

In medieval times, young esquires used wooden contraptions called "jousting horses" in their training to become a knight. In some cases the jousting horse was no more than a wooden barrel (think Heath Ledger in A Knights Tale), or for the wealthy a replica carved wooden horse.

During a meeting with the executive of the Abbey Medieval Festival, a wooden jousting horse was suggested as a display for the public as they had seen one in France a festival and it had proven to be a huge hit.

It was a challenge I could not refuse. I had never actually carved or sculptured anything of that scale before. I had no plans and no idea of the scale required. I never liked horses that much and the feeling was mutual I'm guessing... once I climbed on one he showed me just how quickly he could get me off same.

I found a very small 3D wooden puzzle of a horse online that I purchased and that was the beginning of the plan. I measured the small horse, guesstimated the size I needed and simply enlarged the measurements accordingly.

Next, I needed timber. Thick timber and lots of it. Fortunately, a mate of mine worked at a sawmill and was able to procure a trailer load of throwaways off cuts to get us started. I started with the head and rough cut the blocks before getting stuck in with the angle grinder and an electric file. It took shape very quickly and it was really an encouraging start.

Before I could start constructing the neck I had to design the body, mainly to ensure that the thickness of the neck married up with the thickness of the shoulders. The neck was very easy, simple lines and easy to carve. Marrying it up with the head was a bit of a drama but it came together quite well in the end.

The body turned out to be the biggest challenge. A massive amount of wood glued together meant that the little angle grinder with sandpaper wasn't going to cut it. A cutting blade designed for wood carving (an arbortech plane) fitted to an angle grinder was just the tool and it went through it all like a hot knife through butter, making short work of everything. At this point I went on to the internet and researched muscle lines and all the other information needed to make the jousting horse a real as possible.

We planned to allow children to ride the horse at the Festival so I wanted to re-enforce the support in the legs to take any kind of weight. 25mm square steel tubes with 3mm thick walls were used inside the legs and across the body, forming a sort of cradle that the horse sat on. To make it all mobile, a simple platform with heavy duty wheels was hidden inside with the axle running the width of the trolley. The steel tubes extended down through the hooves and bolted to the platform.

Painting didn't take long but the head, as the focus point, needed to have extra attention. The mane and tail were imported from China and made from female hair extensions. It was the perfect addition, and very cheap. All the tack was made from scrap leather to add the finishing touches. The saddle was made from a Mongolian horse archer's wooden saddle design, with a high front and back adding to the safety of riders.

The end result was that literally hundreds of children became instant knights even though it was only for a few seconds, much to the delight of parents and friends.