Re: Horse Types
 

Skewbald is a colouration, indeed, but the word is attested to at least once in a count of horse types. I thought it evocative and the list was missing a small and cheap mount for travellers such as wandering friars.

A courser for the warrior
A rounsey for the squire,
A sumpter for the baggage train,
A screwbald for the friar.
But I will braid the jennet
and shine the bridle- rein
For the riding of my lady
When she is home again.

A destrier for the jousting,
A hackney for the maid
A palfrey for the princely one
Who preens it on parade.
But I will gloss the jennet
That is cosy in the hay
for the riding of my lady
In the merry month of May.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

I've never seen that one before; every case I've previously encountered has been a inaccurate rendition of Skewbald of Skewball, the latter being the name of a particular racehorse.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

very well done, thanks for this!

will something like the 'Horse Sense'-article appear in Low Tech or one of its three accompanying add-ons?
I'd really like to see that in there...

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

The shoes need to be fitted to the horse, which means bending and beating them into the appropriate shape, holding them up to the hoof to compare, and then beating away some more. Then nailing them on, and bending the nails over. A farrier should definately have Animal Handling, but most of the job falls under Blacksmithing.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

Roleplayer #21 had a lengthy article about designing horses as characters. That was for 3rd ed., and isn't free, but it was written by someone who owned horses.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

Yep. Farrier is not a skill, it is an occupation that involves multiple skills. All would have both Blacksmith and Animal Handling and many would also have Veterinary and Riding (Horse).

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

Just as a point of reference, I've seen riding horses listed as being worth a pound (ie 240 silver pennies) which at the going rate of $4 GURPS per silver penny would be worth about $960. Leeway should be given to account for the fact the "historical reference" for the price of the horse was relevant to THAT particular horse at that particular time in that particular location. Likewise, I've seen references to warhorses being worth 14 pounds in value, which makes them worth in the vicinity of about $13,440 GURPS. The Horse Sense article freely available from Pyramid set my teeth on edge with the blanket assertion that warhorses should cost about $100,000 etc.

Cost is relative. If by the standards of the time, the average unskilled laborer earned a silver penny a day, or perhaps between 1 and 2 silver pennies per day (a Thatcher earned about 2d or 2 silver pennies per day) - then a 14 pound warhorse would run roughly 4.6 year's income for the common laborer. If $100,000 is about 4.6 year's labor, then it makes sense - otherwise, it is a bit out of whack :(

None the less - I can see the effort being made to distinguish between types of horses, and I applaud the effort. After reading Horse Sense, I can see too that the author of that piece, although perhaps not entirely accurate in some areas, was relatively accurate where it counted the most.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

I've postulated riding horses at between $500 for a small and little trained one and 1,200 for a reasonable quality one.

I went with coursers costing up to five times the price of a cow and destriers up to seven times the price of a courser. Modified by a lot of factors, of course, but if we take a typical courser and a typical destrier, that isn't far off in these rules.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

Somewhere along the way, I should print out the ideas presented here, and test them out on a spreadsheet or something to that effect. One thing I noted was the idea of adding war training, which in turn added about .5 CF to the overall horse value. The question that comes to my mind is:

What is the difference between training a horse of a given breed to the rigours of war, versus the training of a different horse/breed to the rigours of war? Shouldn't the cost of war training be a flat value (more or less) based on the cost of training in and of its own sake, rather than making it a multple of the horse's base value? If it takes 6 months of training to render a horse effectively battle trained at a low level, shouldn't that 6 months cost the same regardless of whether it was a high quality bit of horseflesh or an adequite bit of horseflesh? Just a thought.

Re: Medieval Horse Types and Traits
 

Well, it's not exact, but there is a definite correlation between horse quality and the cost of his feed, so I guess it's not unfair to say it costs more to war train a destrier than a rouncey, if only because the destrier eats far more while you're doing so.