04-17-2013, 07:51 PM
Hi, this seems the right thread for my question, unlike the Roman cavalry Sauramatae/Sarmatians were not professional soldiers who spent a lot of time training and honing their riding skills as their lifestyle meant they were pretty busy.
They were professional in the fact that being a mainly pastoral society they lived a major part of their lives on the back of a horse and I am sure that great hunts and fighting off raiders required a lot of team work in working with horses and weapons and man for man I am sure they were superior than the Romans in horsemanship. But how did they find time to train and work as a group. I was thinking that maybe organized team horse sports helped. I have read that Polo originated either in Persia or Central Asia (originally called "Pulu" a Tibetan word for ball) and in ancient times it was a bit more rough and tumble with no holds barred than the genteel game we know now. It was a game for nobles and teams played for valuable prizes. However I have read about Buzkashi which is the Afghan national sport but could have originated in Central Asia where teams of horsemen, sometimes quite large fight over a goat's carcass. Winning at Buzkashi brought a lot of prestige to the winners and was a good way for tribes to "feel out the opposition" and assert their superiority without bloodshed. Teams could work in unison to isolate opposition riders and block others from getting to the carcass although modern riders have the advantage of stirrups compared to ancient riders but it must have improved riding skills over time. One point about the game struck me in that Buzkashi horses were specially trained to stop when a rider came off and stay with downed rider till he remounted his horse which in a real fight would be a handy. Just wondering if anyone else knows more about these horse games and are there examples of others? I have posted an image to show how rough it could be.
[attachment=6987]picbuzkashi.jpg[/attachment]
They were professional in the fact that being a mainly pastoral society they lived a major part of their lives on the back of a horse and I am sure that great hunts and fighting off raiders required a lot of team work in working with horses and weapons and man for man I am sure they were superior than the Romans in horsemanship. But how did they find time to train and work as a group. I was thinking that maybe organized team horse sports helped. I have read that Polo originated either in Persia or Central Asia (originally called "Pulu" a Tibetan word for ball) and in ancient times it was a bit more rough and tumble with no holds barred than the genteel game we know now. It was a game for nobles and teams played for valuable prizes. However I have read about Buzkashi which is the Afghan national sport but could have originated in Central Asia where teams of horsemen, sometimes quite large fight over a goat's carcass. Winning at Buzkashi brought a lot of prestige to the winners and was a good way for tribes to "feel out the opposition" and assert their superiority without bloodshed. Teams could work in unison to isolate opposition riders and block others from getting to the carcass although modern riders have the advantage of stirrups compared to ancient riders but it must have improved riding skills over time. One point about the game struck me in that Buzkashi horses were specially trained to stop when a rider came off and stay with downed rider till he remounted his horse which in a real fight would be a handy. Just wondering if anyone else knows more about these horse games and are there examples of others? I have posted an image to show how rough it could be.
[attachment=6987]picbuzkashi.jpg[/attachment]
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
