Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Alanus]

I am only asking as I am one of these annoying people who is not convinced Roman cavalry ponies were so small...(I'm not saying they're huge, just not so small).

I think we're round-robining the Roman horse issue again. :roll: However, I agree. At 13 hands, the mount is nearing pony size. Maybe the average horse was not some long-legged Arabian, but it was a "horse" and not a pony. There's no reason to assume the cavalry mount was less than "average," perhaps 14 hands. The traditions of horse breeding for size are well documented. We had Phillip of Macedon buying Sarmatian horses from the Crimea. The Persians had the Niesson (sp?). And it's been mentioned on another thread that the Andalusian "came with the Moors" (supposedly related to the Persian horse) from Africa, when it's far more likely that the breed came with the Alans and Vandals, went to Africa, and then came back to Spain with the Moors. These were all strong-boned horses, not ponies, and of average size. "Not small," as Vindex phrased it.