A place for horse related questions

Here's a thought - I've got a small train of mules taken into a cave for shelter
- rain/sleet outside but no thunder. I'm presuming that they should be relatively settled when left alone, probably the end of the lead rope tied to a rock or placed under the weight of one.

However, am I presuming wrong? Are they going to need more attention, not least with the lack of anything to feed on?
 
Well Personally I'd tie them all individually and untie them from each other - just in case something bad happens and one spooks and decides to run. Either that or leave them tied together, but hobble them so they can't go far. They would most likely be glad to be out of the rain, but they would get bored with no food or anything to keep them occupied...

Why no food? They will need food and probably rubbing down if they got very wet else you'll get galls where the leather straps rub against wet hair and other problems, you also have the issue of them getting a chill and possibly going lame. But that depends how long you have/will be stopped in the cave.

Also if the opening is narrow, you may have to re-organise your train so the bravest or most trusted/well behaved mule is at the front and leading the others. :)
 
Kylara, my characters are setting camp after a full day of riding their horses. They were not riding them hard. Should they take a few breaks in the day and walk along with their horses to give them a break?

When they set camp should they rub down the horses? Unsaddle and feed? Check horseshoes?

Thanks in advance
 
Always check hooves when finishing riding, or even if you are riding along stony ground, a bruised sole or frog is never good! You'll be good to check shoes at the end of the day too, a loose shoe is bad, you don't want it damaging anything if it's thrown or hurting the foot if it's loose. I have to say one horse we used to have was constantly throwing shoes in the field so we had to up his farrier trips to every 4 to 5 weeks rather than 6 to 7, shoes are important! Also are you riding with stud (and stud girth ;) )? If you are, you'll have to remove them when you set camp, they can give nasty injuries if a kick happens or an overreach.

You'd probably want to have a few breaks where you either walk for a bit by their side or stop and give everyone a breather (riding all day can get sore!) loosening girths with either of these.

Definitely give water to the horses throughout the day but not too much and give a little break before and after giving either water or food.

A brush off or wash off/rub down if they are very sweaty when unsaddling at the end of the day is a must. You can get snarls and twigs out of manes and tails and mud and dust out of their coats. Grooming also increases the bonds between horse and rider which is always good when travelling on either unknown/new horses or in unknown/new territory. Leave a while before feeding but do feed them if you are riding a lot. Preferably you want them to have access to grass or hay/haylage too and you must give access to water.

Wow! Lots of random info sorry! I tried to be as helpful as possible without knowing more about your horse situation!
 
Wow. That is great info, thank you. I have no horse riding experience save a burning hot summer 3 hour ride that I greatly regreted afterwards :)

My fictional horses shall be well tended
 
Cheers, Kylara, much appreciated. :) These mules don't have any tack on them at present and they're not left for long, so all sounds fine - just didn't know if equines have a habit of getting restless if they're not getting attention.
 
A bit of a derail, but one of the things that seem to find their way into fantasy novels is various bizarre riding or draft animals. Examples I remember include slizzards (horse-sized monitor lizards), dogs the size of a horse, riding ostriches (or something very much like it!) but the "crowning glory" I remember seeing (actually, in an SF novel, but the surrounding society was mediaeval) was something rather like a cavalry triceratops. :eek:
 
Excellent and most useful post. We live in an age where feet, horses or bullocks don't have much input ergo, very few of us really know anything about these pre-automobile modes of transport and haulage. Load carrying, distance feasibly possible in a day, speed, and many other factors influence what your 'noble steed' is capable of realistically doing. Most people won't notice errors in equine capabilities but the first equestrian to read the book will think you are an idiot and will know you know noting about horses. Personally I think personal experience is best but that is not always feasible, seek advice from someone who knows before displaying ignorance in words.
Seen too many situations in novels where it was obvious the writer had no idea, spoiled the story.
Thanks for making your experience available to we who know less but find we have to write about horses.
 
On mules - just reading The Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon and in one of the early sections, where the recruits are being trained, there is a lesson on horse and mule handling and how mules are different and how they can catch out those used to horses.
Main points were
1. Mules are very sensitive about their ears - drag the bridle over them when you are putting the tack on and they will kick you.
2. Mules can kick forwards with their back feet!
3. Mules cannot be bluffed like horses can
4. Mules have good memories and can hold grudges (not said directly, implied).

There was also a bit in there which reminded me of my pony mad days - both mules and horses can take a really deep breath when you are tightening up the girth under a pack or a saddle. When they let it out, the girth is loose and everything on their back can swing round under their belly.
 
This thread is a treasure trove. :)

I got interested in showing horses better in my writing since reading Anne McCaffrey's Black Horses for the King. I've also gone a round or two with James Herriot. I think that many folks expect horses to run all night like Shadowfax.

My question has to do with the feasibility of horses in a new ice age scenario. So civilization has collapsed and much of the northern hemisphere is again covered with glaciers.

The middle north latitudes (say around 30-50 degree N) would be steppe, so no problem for horses relatively speaking--water might be a problem but lighter breeds might even thrive. They have done so on the southern Eurasian steppes from Neolithic times.

But I was thinking of the areas just south of the glaciers, which would tend to be even drier and colder, whether to give my characters living there horses or reindeer (the big Siberian breed that you can ride if you are moderately sized), for regular locomotion and for long-distance trade.

I hope this question is not too outlandish, but I want the end result to be rather realistic. I'm not from an equestrian background, but I have read quite a bit. Thanks in advance.
 
BetaWolf, have you considered ponies, such as Shetland, Highland, Icelandic, etc? That type of pony was widespread in Northern European climes, where the climate was cold and the grazing poor. Capable of carrying heavy loads long distances, faster than you might think, and could subsist on poor food.

Used to have a Shetland, and worked with Highland ponies. Amazing animals, and the Highland was used by some early Norman-Scottish knights, supposedly, because the grazing wouldn't support the war horses that they brought up with them from the lush fields of France.
 
That's a good suggestion, Abernovo. I'll do some research on those breeds. I'm not sure how I got on reindeer exactly. :)
 
Yeah, try the heavier highland breeds - they have evolved to be able to cope with cold weather, rain, snow and poor forage, and, like Aber says they can carry heavy loads. Basically I'd go with what are called "native breeds" of the UK and places like Iceland/Greenland etc (places with the chilly clime you are after) rather than the lighter slender breeds more designed for heat. Fell ponies are probably a pretty good bet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fell_pony
 
And for even more extreme cold - dog sleds. I seem to remember that Scott's Antarctic expedition took ponies, Amundsen dog sleds and one of Scott's problems was the ponies didn't cope as well as he'd thought.
 
Also if you have ice then you have to look after the feet of the ponies otherwise their frogs will get shredded and they will go lame...
 
BetaWolf said:
That's a good suggestion, Abernovo. I'll do some research on those breeds. I'm not sure how I got on reindeer exactly. :)
Click to expand...


I love the idea of reindeer :)

Also think of Norwegian Fjord Horses (well, mostly they are under 14.2 so they're ponies really I suppose). I grew up riding these. They're very hardy, very strong -- it's very much built like a mini draft horse --do well on little food and are well used to the cold. They are also usually pretty good tempered, which helps! IIRC they were known in Norway at the end of the last Ice Age.
 
Fantastic thread!

In my current WIP, I have a group of 24 people who ride with all haste towards a certain goal. They all have an extra horse for carrying food, tents, armour and such, that the riders switch to every so often. They also get to change to fresh horses every now and then, once a day maybe.

My questions are: How cringe-worthy is that scenario to those of you who actually know about horses? Are the horses who don't carry a rider actually any more rested than the ones ridden? Can switching to a lighter rider help a more tired horse to go on a bit longer?
And, if the riders are more used to leisurely strolls on horseback, on well-tended dirt/stone roads, which parts of them will hurt most after riding cross-country for many hours a day for about a week?
 
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