Good horse
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Very good horse.
My best friend was raised on a horse. Literally. He rode from the time he was five. And he learned the cowboy way...His dad bought a small welsh pony and a saddle to fit a five year-old. One Sunday afternoon after church, the men saddled the pony and on it the boy went. The horse even threw him a couple of times, but the men would catch the horse, pick him up and put him back in the saddle. After a few attempts, the pony decided to tolerate him and a lifetime of riding began.
We were one of the very last open range areas in the U.S. It was still open range when I was in high school. So you could run a good many cattle without owning a huge amount of land. My friend's dad ran 600 head of cows, not counting calves, steers or bulls. The biggest time of the year was in the spring, when the spring high water would come. Men would saddle up, ride into the swamp and push the cattle to higher ground. Sometimes, the water would rise faster than anticipated or you'd miss pockets of cows. Then you'd have to herd them off of the ridges onto flatboats and boat them out. Cattle were branded and hogs were earmarked when you got them to higher ground.
Every family had their own brand and earmark. Our brand was GWJ and our earmark was two slits (L ear) and an underbit (R ear).
That kind of work required good horses and people used to argue about who had the best horse. I don't remember my friend not having a horse that he couldn't mount from either side, couldn't rope off of and couldn't shoot off of.
Alas, those days are gone with the wind. My generation is the last that remembers anything about it...
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Very good horse.
My best friend was raised on a horse. Literally. He rode from the time he was five. And he learned the cowboy way...His dad bought a small welsh pony and a saddle to fit a five year-old. One Sunday afternoon after church, the men saddled the pony and on it the boy went. The horse even threw him a couple of times, but the men would catch the horse, pick him up and put him back in the saddle. After a few attempts, the pony decided to tolerate him and a lifetime of riding began.
We were one of the very last open range areas in the U.S. It was still open range when I was in high school. So you could run a good many cattle without owning a huge amount of land. My friend's dad ran 600 head of cows, not counting calves, steers or bulls. The biggest time of the year was in the spring, when the spring high water would come. Men would saddle up, ride into the swamp and push the cattle to higher ground. Sometimes, the water would rise faster than anticipated or you'd miss pockets of cows. Then you'd have to herd them off of the ridges onto flatboats and boat them out. Cattle were branded and hogs were earmarked when you got them to higher ground.
Every family had their own brand and earmark. Our brand was GWJ and our earmark was two slits (L ear) and an underbit (R ear).
That kind of work required good horses and people used to argue about who had the best horse. I don't remember my friend not having a horse that he couldn't mount from either side, couldn't rope off of and couldn't shoot off of.
Alas, those days are gone with the wind. My generation is the last that remembers anything about it...
@Jolly said in Good horse:
a horse that he couldn't mount from either side
That's all training (of the horse) and tradition.
Supposedly, mounting from the horse's left side is a tradition that arose in the middle ages, when mounted cavalry carried a sword. The sword was on the knight's left side, so mounting from the horse's left made sense. You didn't want to swing that piece of hardware over the horse when you mounted.
Simon? I could mount from either side. He didn't care.
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Speaking of tradition, you know where the word "buckaroo" comes from?
It's a corruption of the Spanish word vaquero.
Vaquero is a Spanish word for a herder of cattle.[12] It derives from vaca, meaning "cow", which in turn comes from the Latin word vacca.[13][14]
A related term, buckaroo, still is used to refer to a certain style of cowboys and horsemanship most often seen in the Great Basin region of the United States that closely retains characteristics of the traditional vaquero.[15] The word buckaroo is generally believed to be an anglicized version of vaquero and shows phonological characteristics compatible with that origin.[16][17][18][19] Buckaroo first appeared in American English in 1827.
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The things you learn around here...
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@Jolly said in Good horse:
The things you learn around here...
The three biggest advances in warfare (prior to gunpowder) were
- The chariot
- The saddle
- The stirrup
The basic tactics of mounted warfare were significantly altered by the stirrup. A rider supported by stirrups was less likely to fall off while fighting, and could deliver a blow with a weapon that more fully employed the weight and momentum of horse and rider. Among other advantages, stirrups provided greater balance and support to the rider, which allowed the knight to use a sword more efficiently without falling, especially against infantry adversaries.
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@Jolly said in Good horse:
The things you learn around here...
The three biggest advances in warfare (prior to gunpowder) were
- The chariot
- The saddle
- The stirrup
The basic tactics of mounted warfare were significantly altered by the stirrup. A rider supported by stirrups was less likely to fall off while fighting, and could deliver a blow with a weapon that more fully employed the weight and momentum of horse and rider. Among other advantages, stirrups provided greater balance and support to the rider, which allowed the knight to use a sword more efficiently without falling, especially against infantry adversaries.
@George-K said in Good horse:
The three biggest advances in warfare (prior to gunpowder) were
The chariot
The saddle
The stirrupThat is quite interesting!
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The chariot came about because of the size of the average horse. The horses of the time were similar in size to Welsh ponies.
The first fighting vehicles were four wheeled carts with four side rails. Hard to turn, hard to clamber out of the box and heavy.
Then came the chariot. Three-sided box on two wheels. Two horses, much faster, much easier to turn.
The chariot morphed into a more rounded (but not round) front with side panels that sloped down in the back, making dismounting and remounting much easier.
The Battle of Kadesh was the largest chariot battle...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kadesh
The Egyptians and the Hittites used their chariots a bit differently. Egyptians had a driver and an archer. There was a quiver on every corner and the archer would work around the driver, to get his best shots.
The Hittites used a little heavier chariot, with a driver and an armored spearman. Sometimes, they'd add a third man to the chariot, armed with a sword.
Once calvary came about, goodbye chariots...
