The International Jousting Association has revived jousting as a modern equestrian competitive sport that also has a mass public appeal.
The objective of our style of joust is the same as it was historically, that is to break your lance on your opponent while he or she is trying to do the same to you. Unlike other martial sports there is no defensive aspect - you are going to get hit.
The IJA uses real armour because a solid hit to an unprotected person with our style of lance will deliver more than enough force to kill. Our lances are made from solid wood with either solid or frangible wooden tips.
Most IJA jousting only allows the torso from the waist upwards as the target. As was done historically the armour over this area was supplemented with either a small wooden shield (the ecranche) or in later times specialist items of jousting armour called garnitures. The purpose of these forms of additional protection is to help spread the area of shock before it is transmitted to the rider rather than to actually absorb the full force of a blow. However the impact from a good hit is like being smacked by a sledge hammer.
Points are awarded on how well you strike your opponent with maximum points being awarded for shattering your lance. This style of joust, known as the joust of peace became common from the 14th century onwards.
An IJA jousting match usually consists of a measuring pass followed a number of contact passes . The measuring pass allows the riders to check if their armour is functioning correctly and helps to settle the horses. During the contact passes the riders attempt to hit each other at either the canter or the gallop. Points are awarded for each pass depending upon the quality of the hits scored. Points can also be deducted if a rider is penalised for any reason. The winner being the person who scored the most points during the match.
We also do not generally try to dismount the opposing rider because this will lead to real injuries - either to the horse or to the rider. However our hits are hard enough to cause unplanned dismounts and these do happen frequently especially during competitions. But we award no additional points for this.
There is also the flexibility in the IJA rules to modify the standard rules above to allow the head to be targeted and dismounts to be scored at certain events where additional armour is worn and other safety requirements are met.
We have also made some concessions in the interests of safety in the use of a barrier and counter-lists . These did not start to appear until the early 15th century. Before they were introduced it was difficult to maintain a correct line and this resulted in many head-on collisions and other serious accidents. We have had similar experiences so we use barriers and counter-lists to prevent these sorts of accidents from occurring.