Monday, July 13, 2020

horse riding vs carriage horses

I ran across a discussion of gaited horses and mules on a discussion board at Instapundit.

first someone put up a video of how to saddle a mule vs a horse:



then they put up this video




leading to this comment:



 

Interesting this is a gaited mule. My daughter rode one once. Gaited horse breeds are like Tennessee Walking Horses, American Saddlebreds, Rocky Mountain horses, et. al. with same side leg movement, (hind foot and front foot on same side go down at same time). The ride is quite smooth. Gaited horses are crossed with donkeys to get gaited mules. Usually mules are sterile.

Majesticrider has a post about gaited horses..
n the 1800’s when horses where the primary mode of transportation, people rode what was known as saddle horses. These were horses that were smooth and could be ridden for hours without much stress to the rider or the horse. Since horses were used for transport, a horse that could travel far, with great stamina and a smooth ride was preferred.
The trotting horses came about, when carriages were being pulled and when they needed a horse for quicker actions and speed. The trotting horse was also faster at galloping and better at jumping. So as riding became more of a sport instead of transport, there took a turn more toward the trotting horse.
A gaited horse moves each leg independently, so there is always one foot on the ground, since they are transferring weight to different legs but never suspending themselves in the air, as is done with a trot, there is less energy used by the horse. This use of less energy gives the horse more stamina and enables him to travel long distances without as much energy that would be required by a trotting horse.
I read Professor Bulliet's book about the wheel, on Scribd, and he pulls out evidence why the wheel wasn't really great or even necessary.  which goes against the opinions made popular by Jared Diamond and others.

He argues that as soon as horses evolved to be able to carry riders, horse riding replaced wagons for a lot of travel and transport even in Europe... and then goes on to explain that new carriage designs and better roads led to horse carriages becoming the norm. And of course, Bulliet's area of expertise is Persia and the Middle East history, and he notes that it was the camel's efficiency in carrying loads that resulted in the horse/donkey drawn carts becoming less popular there.

and don't forget the revolutionary introduction of the horse collar (so horses could replace oxen in plowing) and the stirrup (That made it possible to stay on the horse more easily) or the problem of Chinese breeding horses, or how the horses led to the Mongol empire (which again overlaps Middle Eastern and Chinese history more than European history, except for the Bubonic plague that came with these invasions).



Wikiepedia on horses in the middle ages.

Article on horses in the Middle Ages in Europe, with a stress on horses for war (carrying warriors and carrying supplies).

there is probably a lot more out there about the subject: I know nothing about the subject but between Bulliet and the Braudel books of history, I had ran across references to these things.

the problem? Bulliet's book was on Scribd and had an expiration date, so I can't browse it to find the facts I want without reading the whole thing, whereas not only are some of Braudel's books on internet archive, but I have two of Braudel's books hard cover with me, so can check the index and can use as a reference book for what I want to read.

I love history but when we read history, it tended to be great men (read murderous conquerors) and battles, whereas now I'm reading or listening to lectures about technology and culture.

The Durant series does include a lot about the history of ideas and cultural trends, but for technology behind history, you have to search for them.


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