Plate 9

• The description of the fencer’s defensive position puts him in “Kron”, one of the secondary guards in the KdF tradition.

• It’s interesting to note that the footsoldier’s stance seems to be centrally weighted, which would allow for changes of direction in footwork easily.

• The “triangle” is a specific type of offline step, described clearly in Meyer’s 1570 treatise:

“The other ones are the steps to the sides which are delineated through a triangle, namely thus: Stand in a straight line with your right foot before your opponent, and with the left behind the right step toward his left, this is the first. The second which is done double you do thus: Step as before with the right foot against his left, then follow with the left behind the right somewhat to the side to his left, and then again with the right farther to his left.” (Forgeng, 2006)

• Getting offline is very important both for having a safer defense, and having a better angle for the counter attack, in this case probably a “mittlehut” (middle cut) at the horse’s sinews

• The illustration seems to have the foot soldier’s initial motion to the right of the horseman, he is crossing the centerline with this step, and lifting the lance not just up but to the horseman's right, which would potentially disarm/unhorse the rider, or at least make a more difficult recovery.

• Unmounted combatants coordinate two legs not six leaving them to make rapid changes of direction. I agree that the centrally weighted stance is important to the success of the foot soldier.

• Rossfecten attacks originate far away from the opponent due the horse's canter stride length. The rider initiates positioning his lance by locking it into the breastplate. He also spurs the horse asking for a longer canter stride. This forward motion creates something analogous to a fencing lunge.

• Once the mounted pair commits to line of attack, the centrally balanced foot soldier catches the lance on his quillions and parries the lance offline. The triangle step turns him towards the passing horse whose neck is exposed.

• There is substantial ligament (nuchal ligament) that runs along the top of the horse’s neck (below-yellow). It begins in front of the saddle to attaches behind the ears. The spine runs along the base of the horse's neck (below-pink). This ligament is the likely targeted sinew. It pictured unarmored but can be protected by plates across the top of the neck. Attackers could also target the Achilles tendon of the hind limbs as the horse travels past. That tendon is more difficult to armor. (Singh, 2017)

• Humans tend towards right-handedness. Horses tend towards left-sidedness. Grissone (1550) addresses these tendencies. First he encourages riding “always with the right stirrup a half point shorter than the other” presumably to counter attempts to unhorse or disarm the rider to the right. Further in early training he encourages the rider to “always do the first and last turn towards the right” (Tobey ed, 2014) This repetition adds lateral balance and strengthens the horse's weak right side.

Practice drill - The rider makes the horse's stride longer or shorter to reach the target pole on the ground at the desired time. When the rider asks for a longer stride coming into the target, it gives the effect of a fencer's lunge.