One of the most important moves a Knight can make during competition is to relax his grip on the lance if necessary. This learned action or reaction will eliminate many injuries.
I've always trained people in this skill, but it's now time to give it more importance. When training with others, practice hitting the shield then quickly relaxing your grip so the lance will slide back through your hand. When practing hits on the quintain, practice making some using this technique. Relax your grip upon contact with the shield so as to make it spin only one revolution, instead of the usual three or four.
These exercises will help enable you to put whatever amount of power you wish to when making a hit.
This training may also keep you from injuring your partner or opponent. Now think about it. Isn't it nice to know the person you are jousting with has this skill as well as yourself?
This past season, I saw many lances ricochet in various directions - down toward a horse's hip, up past someone's helm and into other potentially dangerous areas. For this reason, this coming season we will be striving for the best of both worlds. By this I mean our approach this year will be to learn and practice the skill of relaxing the grip on the lance a split second after impact. This doesn't mean that every hit has to be dealt with in this way. Sometimes a moderate ricochet of a lance out of harm's way is exciting. But when your instincts are telling you that your hit might cause harm to Horse or Rider, be ready to easy up.
Happy Hitting (and Relaxing) to you!
James Zoppe
Founder and Director
American Jousting Alliance