THE HOME OF CAVALRY RE-ENACTMENT IN NEW ZEALAND

The weapons are real - the action is real. This is the world’s most spectacular full-contact sport - no holds barred.

From the disciplined and chivalric mounted skills to the full force, full contact joust, The Order of the Boar is New Zealand’s own medieval equestrian and jousting historical re-enactment group.

We specialise in recreating aspects of the medieval tournament along with related Living History activities from the second half of the 14th century (1350 - 1400 AD). The group is one of the pioneers in rediscovering the art of jousting and its development as a modern sport both in New Zealand and around the world.

We pay particular attention to horse welfare while also portraying our activities as historically accurate as possible.

All our training is done under the guidelines of the International Jousting Association that promotes horse welfare, jousting and international competition.

While we have a particular emphasis on the medieval period, we also portray the role of the horse in military history. So in addition to the medieval period, we also portray 16th Century Border Reivers and First World War New Zealand Mounted Rifles.

We portray our activities at public displays throughout New Zealand. Our members compete regularly in both jousting tournaments in New Zealand and in off-shore tournaments.

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Public Displays

A big part of what we do is to portray our activities to the general public. We organise the Harcourt Park Jousting Tournament in Upper Hutt every two years. This is a major international event attracting jousters from all around the world and brings in an audience of around 10,000 people.

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We also provide displays as part of other major events. These have included:

Super 12 in Christchurch
Horse of the Year in Hastings
The Omaka Air Show in Blenheim

.. to name but a few. Details »

If you are organising a major event and would like to include equestrian drama and action, please email

Membership

The Order of the Boar recruits its members from the Upper Hutt/Wellington area. If you live outside of this area and are interested in re-enactment or jousting we can help you find a similar club near to you. We have places for:

Owner Rider. You provide your own horse and portray a rider in some capacity.
Non-Owner Rider. You don't have your own horse but can ride and want to portray a rider in some capacity (a limited number of spare horses are available) – No places available at the moment.
Foot Crew. You portray a foot role in some capacity in a direct role alongside the horses.
Sword Training Only. This is offered through Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy. You may decide to also participate in our re-enactment or display activities but do not want to work directly with horses.

Join now to ensure that you can take part in Harcourt Park and our other events.

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News: February 2012

Historical Re-Enactment - Getting Started

We often get inquiries from people wanting to get involved in re-enactment and who ask us about what items they should have and where can they buy them from.

We source most of our medieval armour from SN Exports who are wholesale manufacturers of high quality armour and other medieval kit which is also used in the film industry, e.g. the TV programme 'Merlin' uses a lot of their gear. SN Exports don't sell direct to the public but instead sell to retailers who then on-sell to the public. Order of the Boar has a unique relationship with SN Exports in that we can source items directly from them for our members or people who order through us. Because we don't have the same costs that a retailer incurs, we can pass items on at a cheaper price.

We have used SN Exports for our supplier of maille ('chain mail') for many years and can vouch for both its authenticity and robustness under full competitive jousting conditions. We have recently started using more of their range of armour - in particular their padded armours for our foot combat team.

Very shortly we will be putting together package deals so you can buy a whole set of medieval armour which we can guarantee will be authentic, cost effective and strong enough to withstand the rigors of medieval re-enactment combat - whether you are a lightly armed archer, a jouster or all stages inbetween.

Contact Callum@jousting.co.nz

Events Calendar

17th March 2012

Order of the Boar Foot Tournament Workshop
We are introducing a Foot Combat Tournament format whereby competitors may elect to challenge each other with a variety of late 14th / early 15th century tournament weapon options. We are running a series of foot combat workshops every 2 months to acquaint people with our system. Our first workshop in January 2012 was a great success and the March workshop will build on this. The workshop will be held from 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturday 17th March at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy, Lyster Lane, Upper Hutt. Cost is $25 and places are limited.

31st March - 1st April 2012

Mounted Skill-at-Arms/Mounted Archery Workshop.
This is being held at Kaitoke, Upper Hutt. Cost: $100 for the weekend ($50 for Order of the Boar non-owner riders). Places are limited!

Late April 2012

Modern Cavalry Skills & Stunts. This is being held at Longbush (Carterton) over a mid or late April weekend. Day 1 will focus on later 19th and early 20th century cavalry skills and drills. Day 2 will focus on relevant Stunt skills. Both these workshops are for people with an appropriate level of riding and technical expertise in the activities being covered and also assume that riders will have their own suitably trained horses.

June 23rd - 24th 2012

Trillium Challenge - International Jousting Tournament - Toronto- Canada.

Callum Forbes will be representing NZ at this major North American event.

February 16th - 17th 2013

Harcourt Park World Invitational Grail of Chivalry Jousting Tournament - Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt, New Zealand.

Contact callum@jousting.co.nz for further information on any of these workshops.