Interested in Roman Riding?

[Michael Kerr]

Peter Connolly wrote in his book Cavalryman that the ancients talked about training to vault onto their horses and the Romans built vaulting horses, he even provided an illustration. I think he also used to demonstrate the practice but a fully armed heavy cavalryman would be pushing it to vault onto a roman saddle IMHO. Would it not make more sense to train the horse to kneel so that the rider can mount the horse. The Scythians trained their horses to kneel and this skill would have passed on through the Sarmatians, Alans and all the horsemen of the Steppes. The Celts also had a long history of horsemanship so I was wondering why wouldn't this skill pass through eventually to the Roman cavalry. mile:


[attachment=12382]Throwingahorse.jpg[/attachment]

Regards
Michael Kerr