08-08-2013, 02:44 PM
Quote:I take a different stance-- YES, cataphracts did charge against a formation because their horses were trained specifically for such warfare. Anyone who has played polo knows this. A polo pony is trained to pass by its opponent by mere inches. The horse does not balk, stop, or even flinch. I am so tired of hearing how the ancients were so crude, so stupid, that they could not breed or train their horses to accomplish what modern horses now do.
If I read my own quote correctly, I didn't say anything about ramming the opponent. I said, "pass by its opponent by mere inches." Not every battle was recorded, and to think that no heavy-horse charge against heavy-horse ever occurred would be dismissive. If a horse can charge an automobile, as Moi mentioned above, then it certainly had the grit to charge at an on-coming horse... just as polo pony does.
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb