Barbarian Loadout - Page 2

Michele · 11-09-2020, 01:18 AM

Horses, while bigger than us, are often surprisingly less hardy than us. Remember what our mothers told us when we played in the courtyard in winter? Staying still in the open after having over-exerted is a way for us to catch a cold, but for a horse it's even worse. There's a reason if horse blankets are a thing.

Sure, stables are not heated. Horses and large farm animals do generate more body heat than us, and the stable is there to enclose that heat. Move the horse outside, and the heat dissipates quickly.
Stables also provide still air. Move the horse outside in high winds - and mountain passes are known for those - and the dissipation is much faster.
Add altitude.

Naturally acclimation is a factor, but the best acclimation has taken place generations ago, not over one winter. The German soldiers very much preferred their big, strong draught horses to the small and relatively weak Russian ponies. That was in the summer of 1941. Then the Russian winter came, and the big strong German horses died like flies.

Fred Brackin · 11-09-2020, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michele

Horses, while bigger than us, are often surprisingly less hardy than us. Remember what our mothers told us when we played in the courtyard in winter? .

I know your concerns about horses are perfectly realistic and I am trying to be careful because I didn't have a courtyard and growing up in Florida I didn't have winter by your standards. :)

The thing of it is though that I believe your harsh realism remarks are probably aimed at problems on a different scale than the Gurps Cold rules. Those rules will kill you in a time frame of 2 to 10 hours or so. If they're going to kill you at all.

I think you might be talking something more like a "Make a HT roll 1/day for the horses at penalty x or they contract an idiosyncratic horse diesease".

Þorkell · 11-09-2020, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I know your concerns about horses are perfectly realistic and I am trying to be careful because I didn't have a courtyard and growing up in Florida I didn't have winter by your standards. :)

That whole Florida thing was why I specified horses that I'm familiar with.

Also, I didn't have a courtyard.

11-09-2020, 01:18 AM	#11
Michele Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Udine, Italy	Re: Barbarian Loadout Horses, while bigger than us, are often surprisingly less hardy than us. Remember what our mothers told us when we played in the courtyard in winter? Staying still in the open after having over-exerted is a way for us to catch a cold, but for a horse it's even worse. There's a reason if horse blankets are a thing. Sure, stables are not heated. Horses and large farm animals do generate more body heat than us, and the stable is there to enclose that heat. Move the horse outside, and the heat dissipates quickly. Stables also provide still air. Move the horse outside in high winds - and mountain passes are known for those - and the dissipation is much faster. Add altitude. Naturally acclimation is a factor, but the best acclimation has taken place generations ago, not over one winter. The German soldiers very much preferred their big, strong draught horses to the small and relatively weak Russian ponies. That was in the summer of 1941. Then the Russian winter came, and the big strong German horses died like flies. __________________ Michele Armellini GURPS Locations: St. George's Cathedral