"What do you call a Viking on a horse?" Topic

A Norman!

Seriously, I know the Vikings would use captured horses for mobility but did they ever fight on horseback?

There is apparently a reference to a contingent of Viking "champions" fighting mounted at Sulcoit (Ireland, 968); but I don't know what the original source is.

My reading all suggests they used horses to move to battle, but fought on foot. I'm sure there may be an exception here or there, but I have one small (poor) unit of mounted for my Vikings and that's it.

Motion sick?

In the 1040's the English thegns were famously defeated by the Welsh because they tried and failed to emulate Norman mounted tactics. Of course the chronicler had an axe to grind (as it were) but many of the local thegns at that time happened to be men brought in by Swein or Cnut – Vikings by any other name.
I'm with the "they fought on foot" brigade. I'd be interested to know the date of the Irish source – if after 1066, then it could well be an invention. Maybe more likely if it were closer to the event described.

When vikings got the stirrup turns out to be a subject of vigorous academic debate.

If/when they fought from horseback, on purpose, it's sure seems quiet. As a rule, historical documents tend to report army sizes in terms of horse and foot. So when no horses are mentioned for a few hundred years it's a good bet there weren't any cavalry. But that's not a solid fact, just the reasonable position.

Norman is actually a pretty solid answer as they represent an evolution of northern European invasions into the continent.

Viking is kind of a vague term, though. Viking ship based raiders would have been unlikely to use horses for combat, even if they were available, as their primary goal was not heavy combat. They seemed to seek out horses after landing, which is not surprising given that horses would have been fairly difficult to transport over water.

In terms of actual armies, there doesn't seem to be any evidence supporting cavalry use by the forces that invaded the British Isles, though they certainly seemed to use them for transportation and work. It is conceivable that there were scattered light cavalry used for harassing or pursuit (maybe some adaption of Irish tactics or using mercenaries?), but the primary tactics seem to revolve around shield and spear bearing infantry.

As to mounted champions at Sulcoit, wasn't that from Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib? But even there, it is not clear if they were actually cavalry or just rode to battle (as opposed to marching).

Depends on individual so possibly Eric, Thor, Loki, Lief, Ivar,Gundar,, etc

Obviously
A Viking on a horse

In Triumph we call them "bad horse"

Or as I say, just because your riding a horse that don't make you a knight :)

Riding on a horse you are not familiar with and is not familiar with you can be disastrous!

Even with a horse you are familiar with and vice versa the slightest thing can spook them.

Unless a person has spent time on horses you just do not realize that large, very powerful creature has a mind of its own and is not going to do what it really does not want and you can go flying off its back pretty easy without stirrups; to say nothing of with!

Training your own horse properly can lead to a reliable "bomb proof" (as we say now) animal but if I had shown up via a boat and took someone's horse I sure would dismount too before attempting anything, let alone mortal combat.

Sir.