Medieval Horse Types and Traits

[safisher]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Sure, sure, my point though was that 200 times the price of a plow horse doesn't mean that you can take the price of a draft horse in Basic p.460, listed as $2,000 and multiply that by 200 and come back and say that Baron Schmoe spent $400,000 on his new fancy destrier.

On the other hand, if a plow horse cost 120d-240d and Baron Schmoe spent 24,000d-48,000d (L100-L200) on his new fancy destrier, then that's all fine considering his expected yearly salary is probably in the L200-L500 range.

Keeping in mind too of course that Baron Schmoe has to be at the very least Filthy Rich to qualify for his expected yearly salary.

It's highly likely that historians are overlooking the breeding operations that these very expensive horses would have started. You don't buy a horse with that money, you buy a new bloodline. I can buy a champion gelding for $50,000, and the same quality as a mare or stallion would be $1 million. The astronomical figures, I suspect, are not for run-of-the-mill average stock, but especially in imported horseflesh, the equivalent of the bloodlines of champion thoroughbred race horses.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by safisher

It's highly likely that historians are overlooking the breeding operations that these very expensive horses would have started. You don't buy a horse with that money, you buy a new bloodline. I can buy a champion gelding for $50,000, and the same quality as a mare or stallion would be $1 million. The astronomical figures, I suspect, are not for run-of-the-mill average stock, but especially in imported horseflesh, the equivalent of the bloodlines of champion thoroughbred race horses.

Just FYI, that post was four years old.

Damn youse, P! Stop reanimating things!!! Halloween isn't for a couple more months.

[DanHoward]

Personally I'd prefer to see an old thread revisited rather than starting a new one every time there is something additional to contribute.

[Flyndaran]

ARISE!!!

I re-found this thread when searching for ways to create a horse form for a shapeshifter.

Anyone notice how these riding horses with move 16, 14, and 12 and around ST 20 lead to full out sprinting speeds of 19, 16, and 14 mph? Assuming medium encumbrance which is what any adult would put the horses at.

Does this only seem slow to me? The world record for horse sprint with rider is 55 mph. Should that really be literally more than 3 and 1/2 times that of a riding horse?
That would be like Usain Bolt's record 24 mph leading to most human runners sprinting at 6.8 mph.

[Celti]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

ARISE!!!

I re-found this thread when searching for ways to create a horse form for a shapeshifter.

Anyone notice how these riding horses with move 16, 14, and 12 and around ST 20 lead to full out sprinting speeds of 19, 16, and 14 mph? Assuming medium encumbrance which is what any adult would put the horses at.

Does this only seem slow to me? The world record for horse sprint with rider is 55 mph. Should that really be literally more than 3 and 1/2 times that of a riding horse?
That would be like Usain Bolt's record 24 mph leading to most human runners sprinting at 6.8 mph.

Modern jockeys are light (Victor Espinoza, the latest Triple Crown rider, weighs only 112 pounds) and record-setting horses are just that — record-setting! They'll have both Very Fast and some level of Strong Specimen.

Also consider that these are medieval horses — modern horses are noticeably better in most ways.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Celti

Modern jockeys are light (Victor Espinoza, the latest Triple Crown rider, weighs only 112 pounds) and record-setting horses are just that — record-setting! They'll have both Very Fast and some level of Strong Specimen.

Also consider that these are medieval horses — modern horses are noticeably better in most ways.

The weights given aren't that much different from most breeds today.
My comparison still stands. Unless you're saying Usain Bolt isn't very fast or strong.
Jockey weights are more about that fraction of a second than making medium encumbrance light in Gurps' terms.

[Anthony]

The encumbrance rules in GURPS are fairly poor.

[Celti]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

My comparison still stands. Unless you're saying Usain Bolt isn't very fast or strong.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

The world record for horse sprint with rider is 55 mph. Should that really be literally more than 3 and 1/2 times that of a riding horse?
That would be like Usain Bolt's record 24 mph leading to most human runners sprinting at 6.8 mph.

The comparison is faulty to begin with (no offence intended). Just looking at it in GURPS terms, humans (and Usain Bolt) don't have Enhanced Move while horses do, making it difficult to draw such a comparison. Moving to the real world, horses are quadrupeds, and quadruped speed doesn't scale the same way a biped's speed does.

I can easily believe record-breaking horses have a speed 3.5 times more than that of a typical riding horse, especially since the average canter (a medium-to-long distance pace) is only 10 to 17 miles per hour as established in numerous veterinary science publications.

The book I would recommend as an overview of the subject of equine speeds is Horse Gaits, Balance, and Movement, but I cannot find an ebook or excerpts available online.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Celti

The comparison is faulty to begin with (no offence intended). Just looking at it in GURPS terms, humans (and Usain Bolt) don't have Enhanced Move while horses do, making it difficult to draw such a comparison. Moving to the real world, horses are quadrupeds, and quadruped speed doesn't scale the same way a biped's speed does.

I can easily believe record-breaking horses have a speed 3.5 times more than that of a typical riding horse, especially since the average canter (a medium-to-long distance pace) is only 10 to 17 miles per hour as established in numerous veterinary science publications.

Long distance running is Paced Running, not sprinting which is what full Move means. Should riding horses only be able to SPRINT at 14 mph?
I know very little about horses, but that seems bizarrely slow for a specially bred riding horse.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The encumbrance rules in GURPS are fairly poor.

In what ways are they fairly poor?