Your Pflug is open... Please stop doing this
- HEMA 101 admin
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
If you keep eating thrusts when you are in Plough and don't know why, then read on.
"Your Pflug is open!" Huh? If someone says this to you, no, the Velcro on your breeches hasn't come undone - again... It means your plough (plow for my American friends) is crappy.
Plough - Posta Breva, whatever you want to call it - is one of the best guards in Longsword. When your hands are safely tucked in, it is one of the few guards that doesn't expose your hands to a hand snipe, gets your blade in front AND covering one of your openings. It's therefore the one reliable(ish) guard that lets you fence in a point forward position relatively safely.
Let's take left Plough specifically: it is the best plough for a right-handed fencer, as it doesn't require you to cross your hands. When used actively (i.e. making use of the tip of your sword to maintain good structure and provide a threat, extending to longpoint as needed, etc.), it protects your inside (your left side) very well, giving you that secure inside bind. It also gives you that great thrust into left Ox or longpoint, and you can perform other actions such as cuts, beats, hanging parries, etc. It provides a good combination of 'passive' defence (courtesy of your blade being in the way) and 'active' defence (your ability to strengthen or move into other positions or take other actions).
However, too often I fence people who, us both being in left Plough or longpoint, point their blade across their body towards their own right shoulder, instead of pointing towards MY right shoulder or face. This is terrible!
Let me explain: if we are both in left Plough facing each other in the zufechten, there are two positions we can be in:
Either your sword is on the right of mine...
...or your sword is on the left of mine.
If your sword is on the right of mine, then we are both exposing our right side (our nearest opening) to our opponent. We are basically giving an invitation to attack, and your left plough isn't really doing much. We can ignore this as this post isn't about these situations.
However, if your sword is on the left of my sword then, ideally, we have both closed our left side (our nearest opening) to the opponent. To attack, I either need to cut around your blade, or I have to move your blade out of the way.
To move your blade out of the way, as I come into measure I could extend into longpoint and, using good structure, push it to my left (your right), allowing me to then thrust over the weak of your blade. I can even do this in one motion, e.g. as a schielhau.
Too often I fence people who have already done the hard work for me
They approach in a lazy plough with their blade pointing across their body. Even if they extend into longpoint they stay in this lazy position. Or they offer no resistance to a tip-to-tip bind and easily end up in this position without realising. "Thank you very much" I say as I thrust/schielhau over the weak of their sword to their chest, neck or shoulder. Now, I like winning as much as the next person, but... Yawn.
So what should you be doing?
Do not allow your sword to point across your body like the blue fencer in the above illustration. Keep it more in line with your own left shoulder like below. Keep your tip close to their tip, and ideally pointing somewhat towards their face. This isn't illustrated perfectly below, but hopefully you get the idea.
Use your tip actively to oppose their tip, and extend into longpoint as you come into measure. If you can cross over their sword and point your tip more towards their right shoulder, now you have a clear thrust.
Generally, the more of your opponent that you can see to the left of your sword, the more you are exposing your left side, and you are in real danger of a thrust or schielhau. But it's a balancing act, as holding your tip too far to the left is no good either as you won't be able to cross your opponent's sword.
On the flip side, if you see someone approaching in a lazy Plough, or a lazy Vom Tag, with their blade pointing diagonally across their body, then - by all means - thrust away! The Schielhau is your friend. Because you have gained a strong position you can attack without fear of a counter attack; they can only parry.
Now, there are times when you may want to deliberately use a weak position like this, dipping your point or moving it too far right or left, and that is to tempt your opponent to attack you. However, you first need to understand why this is a weak position and how to use a strong position effectively.
Theory
If you are interested in the theory behind this post, check out my post of German fencing theory: https://www.hema101.com/post/my-approach-to-15th-century-german-fencing-theory
In short, an effective plough is about maintaining a strong position and a threat (Vor). The collapsed Plough does neither and so puts you firmly in Nach and is structurally weak. Furthermore, if you are familiar with rapier fencing, you should also recognise the collapsed Plough position as being in subjection/obligation to the opponent.