Arne Koets is a historical European martial arts (HEMA) practitioner and instructor from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Along with Guy Windsor in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, he is one of the few people that works as a full-time professional instructor in HEMA.Jonathan Chilton (22 March 2015
"Sword enthusiasts fighting to be noticed"
''Towle Otago Daily Times'' He is a notable figure in the world of HEMA, being an expert in

jousting Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

and historical

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

. He runs seminars internationally. Koets has ridden in more than 400 tournaments, in ten countries, on three continents. Koets was involved in one of the first groups to begin HEMA in the Netherlands. He started to reconstruct fencing books in 1998. He enrolled at the University of Amsterdam to study

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and there initially started sword combat with a historical martial arts group. It was at the University that he originally began to ride. His advanced education in historical riding art happened in the Princely Riding School at Bueckeburg castle, where he worked as curator in the horse museum from 2010 to 2014 . His mentor riding master Wolfgang Krischke took care of the training and equipped Koets with the best educated riding art stallions of the school. In 2012 Koets participated at the reenactment of the Carrousel de Sanssouci, a mounted fest that originally took place 1750 in Potsdam under Frederik II of Prussia. Koets is one of the main figures in international historical mounted combat

, he has been responsible for TV events, writing articles and is responsible for organising hundreds of tournaments in his time,"Berufsritter Anno 2015"
goettinger-tageblat. 7 July 2015 including The Grand Tournament at

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

and The Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel and The Tournament of the Golden Chain at Middelaldercentret i

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

.The Tournament of the Golden Chain at the Middelaldercentret 2014
''The Jousting Life''. 27 December 2015 In his past, he has worked at many institutions in the historical military context, including the Royal Armouries in Leeds, the Royal Netherlands Army Museum and Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg. Koets was one of the founding members of the Stichting Historisch Educatief Initiatief, a Dutch foundation promoting education through living history. Once a year he runs the Harnischfechten and Roßfechten Symposium in his garden.

References

Historical European martial arts Dutch martial artists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Amsterdam alumni {{Netherlands-martialart-bio-stub