Danikine 174
Right you are. All those plates people are posting are meaningless. They are there only to show the HUMAN in UNIFORM. The Horse is an afterthought. You might as well put them on saw horses and it would be as good.
Modern horses are really no bigger than horses 400 years ago. The desire of breeders for specialized horses has pretty much run up against the barriers of cold science and mother nature (They can't make them much faster or bigger, the knees and ankles go all to hell. Remember too, that the horses you see in the jumping and equestrian events ARE the horses that ran in the races. They're no longer young enough to be fast enough for the races, and if it weren't for the equestrian and jumping sport they'd pretty much be sent to the glue factory after 2 years making money at the races. Another example of the corruption money brings to everything.
By the way I am addicted to show jumping because it's a real sport. There's no judging, only scoring. Quite exciting too. You can learn a huge amount about cavalry from watching the more important part of the cavalryman, the horse.
To be brief, you learn the ridiculousness of the idea of "shock" in cavalry action, how insecure a rider sits in the saddle, (not a jumping event goes by where some horse does not take the jump (refuses) and stops dead, sending the rider flying head over heels over the fence or oxer. Most important is how the horses place their feet. Watching how they move tells you a huge amount about how they can be used.
Beautiful animals, just marvelous to watch them on the course. Quite exciting.
One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen too is at the Farm and Horse Show on Driving Day. Horses are brought in hauling old time wagons and carriage rigs many of them quite a beautiful reproduction, but the horses are all decked out with ribbons, bells, elaborate highly polished harness' and you get a little bit of what Mediaeval pageantry was all about.
By the way one of the other interesting events is the Ladies side-saddle competition on the jumping events, and the costumed events.
But the jumping events… ah… beautiful to see that big huge animal sail effortless over that fence or Oxer. By the way, did you know the horse can jump that fence from a STANDING start in front of it?
Glad to find another horse lover.
By the way, I'm a terrible rider. I took lessons for four years when I was 16 to 20 and couldn't get the horse to do anything except try and kill me. Finally gave up, but that just means I am even more fascinated by those who can do it.
The instructor was baffled, said I was doing everything right, but I couldn't get a horse to jump over a log laying on the ground. He said to me "I guess your personality and manner just can't establish control over the horse."
Still love em though.
Gunfreak mentioned Donkeys. OK. By the way Mules are much better as draught animals than horses. A horse will do anything to please it's master, including letting the rider run him till his heart bursts. Mules are different. Mules will work hard but there comes a time when they say "enough is enough" and just stop. It's a shut-down safety Mules apparently have that horses don't.
In games I rarely have my cavalry charge unless it's more or less a formality of getting well depleted and demoralized infantry to just take off.
If you want to read a good story about horses in the Military, read Rudyard Kipling's "The route of the White Hussars." It's about the attempted cashiering of the Drum Horse of a Regiment by a new colonel."
Every Cavalry regiment I have MUST have a Drum Horse! and a Trumpeter!
Otto
paints brigs for the British fleet.
