20 SIDELINES APRIL 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 22
Not Just Jousting
Full Metal Jousting’s
James Fairclough II
By Jan Westmark-Allan
I
f you notice James Fairclough
II
walking around the show
grounds at the Winter
Equestrian Festival, or near his
barn in the Hamptons, don’t
be deceived by his gentle
appearance. If there’s one
thing that lies underneath
James’s schoolboy good
looks and slight frame is
that fact that he is tough! If
you see him schooling his
students in the show ring
and he seems like a nice
guy – he really is a nice guy
-- but don’t forget that he is
also tough!
So tough, in fact, that
James beat out riders from all
over the country to be part of
the History® Channel’s reality
show “Full Metal Jousting.”
According to the History®
Channel, the show featured 16
of the toughest warriors in the
country facing off in bone-crushing
competition in a 10 part series of full-
contact jousts with competitors going
head-to-head on horseback in brutal tests of
strength, endurance and courage with the
last man standing taking home $100,000.
H
O
R
S
E
S
H
O
W
While that sentence may be a mouthful – actually it
is, uh, tough to say -- it also seems obvious that
only guys with nerves of steel could compete
in something described as “bone-crushing,”
“brutal” and “full-contact.” While he
may have nerves of steel, he also has
excellent equitation and James made
the equestrian world smile when
his coaches on the reality show
described him as the best rider of all
the jousters. (Check out James’s
jumping photo to see what they
were talking about!)
If you happened to catch the
frst few episodes of “Full Metal
Jousting” and saw clips of James
covered in blood, you may have
paused and thought, “That man
is a little crazy, too!” Sidelines
caught up with James after the
show had fnished taping to fnd out
what it was like to revive the world’s
original extreme sport. At this point
we don’t know how James fared on
the reality show, the only thing we know
for certain is that he spoke to us, so we
assume he came out of the competition
alive!
Sidelines:
How did you become a contestant
on “Full Metal Jousting?”
JF:
A couple of my friends found the casting
call on the Chronicle of the Horse forum and
Suited up and ready for action
Photo by Zach Dilgard, HISTORY
Jousting is defnitely not a sport for the faint at heart. “The other
horsemen from “Full Metal Jousting” were all talented in their
own disciplines,” said James
Zach Dilgard, HISTORY