Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Conal]

, but if sub-Roman Britain was sliding back toward subsistence living, horses may have been a luxury they couldn't afford--no matter how useful mounted warriors might be against the invading Germans. I'm all for the idea of some form of sub-Roman cavalry (obviously) but see it as more ad hoc and defused than anything Imperial.

That's the big unknown: how far and how fast did sub-Roman Britain degenerate?

Dont confuse subsistance living with kitchen gardening :wink: If wealth could be created by breeding the hos (or any animal) for whatever use then folks will do it. The Massai in African consider a cattle heard of 50 to be reasonable and they dont grow crops at all relying on trading livestock to get grain etc. Their acreage per cow must be more than for the hos in Britain but they still manage 50+ heards

My point with Miaden castle was that it was unoccupied in the 450s so thereby establishing free land available on which to keep hosses, as not all of Britain had been planted with cabbages.

I see no physical obsticle to having "enough" horses for a reasonable cavalry force .... only cultural or political reasons for not having one.