Medieval Horse Types and Traits

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Icelander - Are there any other references for skewbald being a type of horse rather than a coloration? I am not sure I would trust a poet to stick to a classification scheme if skewbald (the color) fits the rythyme pattern.

There are none, no.

But then again, it's not like there are unassailable sources for much of the other typologies either. Usage tends to be unscientific in the extreme and a period of one generation is more than enough for the meaning of a term to evolve. And we're discussing hundreds of years.

All in all, we've got a choice between going with the classification system that's both consistent and logical as well as being attested in one primary source or going with the more accurate, if pedantic, view that most of these terms had more than one meaning in different areas or periods and that it is impossible to classify historical horse types in any non-arbitrary way.