Border Reiver tack anyone?

I've been meaning to post about this for years, but persistent computer issues have put me off...but no longer! I have a shiny new computer that actually functions, hoorah!

---

I have always had a particular affinity for the Scottish Borders, not least because most of my ancestors hail from there, but mostly because it's where we go on holiday every year. I feel more at home there than I do in my home town of Glasgow, but that's perhaps not surprising - I'm not a big fan of cities in general. (although the phone reception here is far better!)

Anyway, a number of years ago whilst driving through the countryside we saw a sign advertising a 'living history' display at the 13th century Old Buittle Tower by 'The Borderers', a group of like-minded individuals from across the UK and some from as far afield as the Netherlands, who dressed up in period costume and weaponry, complete with fully kitted out ponies bred to resemble the now long gone Galloway type. This was pre-Nigel, so I didn't get any photos other than this one on my ye olde film camera but I remember being blown away by everything, from the mounted archery and shooting at a gallop, to the fascinating history behind the Border Reivers themselves.

 

The Reivers (who gave the words 'bereaved' and 'blackmail' to the English language!) were the families and clans of the border regions between Scotland and England in the late medieval to Tudor period who engaged in cattle and horse rustling, as well as raiding, pillaging and general unpleasantness to anyone who threatened their family, irrespective of country or clan alliance. As highly proficient horsemen, they could raid quickly and efficiently, and were so infamous, that they prompted possibly the best curse I've ever heard. -here- One strand of my family on my mother's side were Robsons, one of many well known Border family names; so it's very possible that I can claim some Reiver ancestry if I could go back far enough!

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Border-Reivers/

http://www.sorbie.net/border_reivers.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Reivers

The Borderers used to have a fantastic website with a ridiculous amount of detail on the tack and armour used but alas, it seems to have been lost. :( There's a good amount of photos from it on pinterest though, which can be seen -here-

EDIT: A cached version has been found and is well worth looking at! -HERE-

We went to a few of their displays over the years but missed many as they inevitably fell on the days after we'd already headed home or clashed with something else. My dad took a couple of photos and I got a couple of clips from I *think* 2006 - the grey mare was called Lally and if I remember correctly, was a Fell/Arab cross. She's no longer around sadly.

The reins were half chain to prevent attackers from severing them apparently.

I just found this video, which sums things up considerably better, and with far better quality! After the blurb at the beginning, there's a bit about the horses themselves.

Sadly, by the time I had a good camera to capture all the action myself and we managed to make it to a display, last year we were told that they just didn't have the same quality of horses or trained people to do what they used to, after a few had died, so while everything looks the same as before, there'll be no more ridden displays for the foreseeable future which is very sad.

I did my best to photograph as much of the tack as I could, though I wish I'd asked to see the underside of the saddles!

There's a huge amount of information about the horses, tack and equipment on the cached website -here- Sadly a lot of the photos are broken but the info itself is sound!

They had a whole host of tack on show!

This obviously isn't quite the same as Reiver tack but I couldn't not photograph it!

While we didn't see them ridden, they still had a couple of ponies.

This one was lovely, I could have cuddled him all day.

Some were friendlier than others... XD

The couple who own the tower, Jeffrey and Janet Burn, are heavily into the living history thing and have even decorated the interior in a period fashion (although they told us they do have all the mod cons, they just hide them when its open to the public!) The murals are self portraits too, but unfortunately became damaged due to the effects of bad weather recently. The tower also houses a reproduction medieval hall, kitchen, forge, tiny chapel and stables! It's such a nice place.

Sorry for the crappy picture - it was a mostly candlelit room and was very, very dark.

So, there you go! I thought you lot might find it interesting and please do feel free to use these photos for tack/performance reference if you want! I'd love to do a Reiver setup one day but I feel my tackmaking skills aren't quite up to it yet, haha!