Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy

05/30/2026

Members of Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy equestrian program were out on Valour horses Casper and Arrow at the Springfield Chicken Daze supporting the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival and as members of the Springfield Horse Community.

Had a great parade and Provost Chad McFarland is prepared to face the summer time fighting weather in full HEMA kit. 😎🥵🥵🥵

Hoping next years parade we'll have some of our other members out to demonstrate HEMA fighting along the parade route. :)

Interested in medieval horsemanship, archery, and equestrian combat? Come visit us in July at the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival and say hi to Arrow and Casper in person!

05/15/2026

Provost Chad McFarland had the privilege and honour of teaching at the Free Fighters Guild in Istanbul, Turkiye today. Wonderful group of people and we went over the subtleties of fighting mixed steel rapier vs saber and the advantages of each type of weapon. We worked on control of the center and how the cavazione if the rapier and the quick disengage need to be defeated for the saberist to win the match.

04/22/2026

On Sunday Provost Chad McFarland had the privilege of being interviewed for CBC Radio One Winnipeg's "The Weekend Morning Show."

I can't link to the show but hopefully this screen recording works and you can all listen to the interview here. :)

Tonight is the start of our Spring Semester 2026 classes in Italian Rapier and Longsword. There are still a few spots left in the longsword class and MAYBE 1 spot left in rapier. So if you're interested in joining us email [email protected] and we'll see you tonight at Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy!

04/21/2026

Valour HEMA Academy now on Discord!

Check out the Valour HEMA Academy community on Discord - hang out with 22 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

04/20/2026

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-367-the-weekend-morning-show-manitoba/clip/16209588-learning-ancient-art-sword-fighting

04/20/2026

Provost Chad McFarland was privileged to be featured on Winnipeg's CBC Radio One for the Weekend Morning Show to share the story of Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy! :)

If you're interested, here is the interview:

04/16/2026

It's not every day you get to hold 500 year old original historical fencing manuals in your hands. You can feel the connection to the history of the art and we feel so privileged to be here in Vancouver learning from Maestro Devon Boorman at Academie Duello - Centre for Swordplay.

Ridolfo Capo Ferro’s treatise, Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma, was published in 1610 in Siena, Italy. Bound in the original pig skin with parchment paper.

Achille Marozzo’s treatise, Opera Nova dell'Arte delle Armi, was first published in 1536 in Modena.

04/10/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out on Wednesday and tried our free longsword and rapier classes! Also special thanks to all the Valour Volunteers who make these events possible!

Please note we do not have any classes this coming week. The start of Spring Semester 2026 is on Wednesday April 22 at 7:00pm. Beginner rapier is ALMOST full. Beginner longsword still has spots open. Email [email protected] if you're interested in securing a spot for our last semester before the summer break!

04/08/2026

Our free sword class and open house is tonight! A few spots for longsword just came open. The class is otherwise full. If you want to jump in to a 7:30pm free longsword class email [email protected] !!

01/10/2026

On Wednesday we had our Winter 2026 Open House and free intro to sword fighting class. It was great to see so many people come out to try and even better so many people signing up for our Winter 2026 semester that begins at 7pm on Wednesday January 14th!

Here are some pictures from the open house! Enjoy! :)