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The Order of the Boar is made up of a band of amateur enthusiasts and hobbyists who recreate the raw power of a tournament. We share this by way of public displays to not only entertain, but also educate our audiences.
Interest in the medieval period is a growing global phenomenon that is finding larger and larger audiences because of the spectacle, the pageantry, 
and the sheer physical presence, that is unlike any other sport today. The jousting is unscripted, the jousting is for real - the competitiveness is for real - the hits are also for real.
Modern Jousting is a competitive sport based on the formal duel between two or more knights, and we add into this mounted skill-at-arms exercises, foot combat and archery. The knights wear real armour, and it is needed; the shock of a lance breaking is a shock that not many spectators are likely to forget.
Our major display is the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament in Upper Hutt which we run every two years. It attracts jousters from all over the world and over 10,000 people come along to watch over the tournament weekend.
We also do displays as part of other major events, which have included the Super 12 rugby tournament in Christchurch (the Super 12 preceded the current Super 14),
the Horse
of the Year show in Hastings,
and the Omaka Air Show in Blenheim to name but a few.
Whilst we specialise in jousting and the medieval period, in recent years we have also started to display other periods of history as well, in particular 16th century Scottish Border Reivers and First World War New Zealand Mounted Rifles.
We take particular pride in our New Zealand Mounted Rifles display where we portray the riding skills and battle drills of a basic 4 man section from the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles which saw action at Gallipoli and in Palestine.
All our displays are as real and complimentary to the period of history that we are portraying. Our clothing, weapons and other equipment are all carefully researched and replicated as close as possible to the originals of the time.
We are not professional performers and therefore we are not available during normal working hours or at short notice. For a local (Wellington area) display we require at least 6 weeks notification and for a display elsewhere in New Zealand at least 3 months notification.
All this is expensive, even with voluntary amateurs, and a display fee is required which typically amounting to $3,000 - $4,000 a day to cover costs. If we are traveling outside the Wellington region then we require that our transport and accommodation costs are also covered.
Please note that because our displays are usually weather dependent our "display season" typically runs from October through to April.
A
s the only group in New Zealand to have a team of horses, riders and foot crew well-skilled in most aspects of historically accurate mounted combat we are able to support various film projects.
Our members have been involved in the following projects:
- Fairie Storie
- Dark Knight
- Last Samurai
- Lord of the Rings
- Fugitives and Princes
- Time Hackers
As rates of pay in the NZ film industry are less then what our members earn in their careers and businesses, we are only available to work weekends or for projects of a short duration.
Due to the sheer expense of providing any form of assistance to the film industry, we stress that we can only support paid film work.
If you are interested in discussing our involvement in your film project further, please contact
