Roman Cavalry I

OK, now that you've seen the Sassanid Cataphract in the last post, here's what the Romans had to initially go up against it:

Needless to say, it didn't take long before the Romans created their own to match it. The above image is a typical auxiliary cavalryman circa 1st Century AD. Here's another view:

Now admittedly, these are reenactor/living history recreations and thus, there's potential for error but I think it gives a pretty good idea (But I'm not wild about the tie-down in the second picture). More later! :-)

Cavalry in History - The Cataphract

Because you asked... :-)

Pictured above is a recreation of a Sassanian Cataphract from roughly the mid-2nd Century AD. The Sassanians were the successors to the Parthians and were located on the Eastern border of the Roman Empire in what is today Jordan/Iraq/Iran and as such were a formidible foe and a constant threat to the Roman position in the East.

The term "Cataphract" in English is derived from the Greek: κατάφρακτος Kataphraktos (plural: κατάφρακτοι Kataphraktoi), literally meaning "armored" or "completely enclosed". Historically the cataphract was a very heavily armored horseman, with both the rider and horse covered from head-to-toe in scale armor, while typically wielding a kontos or lance as their weapon.

In response to the Sassanid threat, the Romans eventually created cataphract units of their own and later also armed them with a short bow to deal with the light horse archers which were typically used in conjunction with the Cataphracts. By using the Cataphracts in conjunction with lightly-armored horse archers, the Sassanids were able to create a fast-moving cavalry force that combined firepower with mobility. The only real weak spots were that the Sassanids lacked any infantry capable of holding fixed positions (at least outside of fortified towns.

One slang term of the period that was used for Cataphracts was the Latin word "clibinari" or metal oven which referred to the effect of the armor in the desert heat...I don't think I up for giving this a try with Max! :-)

On the Trail - Ahmanson Ranch

Today, a friend and I trailered our horses over th Ahmanson Ranch for a trail ride. I've been here before last Fall but I really haven't been out on the trail for extended periods since Max's leg and knee problems so I was looking forward to this with anticipation (and a little trepidation).

Ahmanson Ranch is relatively close to my friend's house and it's about a 45-minute drive from my stable but it's another world apart. Located at the edge of the West San Fernando Valley, it's a refreshing contrast to the urban sprawal and over-development and thanks to a hard-fought battle by various public interest groups and the public in general, it was saved from development (multi-million dollar homes and the usual BS). Click Here for some background information.

For a nice map of the trails, click Here for a map of the area.

One of the reasons I really like this area is that the trails are optimal for horses- no rocks, good footing, fairly wide trails, and long open stretches for trotting and cantering. And lots of grass for your horse to snack on. In short, horse paradise. Also, it really gives you a good idea of what a lot of California USED to look like, once upon a time.

There are two ways to access the area, one from the East off of Victory Blvd. (at the extreme West end) or from Las Virgenes Road on the West side. The East side is more accessible for horse trailers and closer to where we're located so we used that one.

After arriving and paying a nominal $3 parking fee, we tacked up and were soon on the trail. There's a large number of hikers and joggers on the main central trail and some mountain bikes but everyone was polite and there were no issues. Also, Max is getting much better around bikes so it's not as bad an issue that it once was.

Footing on the trail was good although a bit hard from having dried out from the recent rains we've had here. We made our way Northwest and after warming up for about 20 minutes at the walk, we trotted for some stretches. Max is slower than my friend's horse and tends to be more of a follower so my friend took the lead for most of this. On the trot and canter, Max exerts himself trying to keep up and sometimes gets a tad excited so I have to check him once in awhile to get his attention.

We followed the central main trail all the way to Las Virgenes Road and then took a trail that wung around to the East in a large loop. Overall, we estimated that the total trails we rode was about 6 miles or so.

We finally cantered for some long stretches and Max was defnitely game although he'd tend to give a little buck-out when I'd send him into a canter (Max tends to do this when he's exuberant) but it's easy to settle him down. This is the first long trail ride that I've ridden using the Pelham bit and I found it useful for getting Max's attention when needed- the curb effect acts as sort of a "HEY BUDDY, PAY ATTENTION!" when needed (not too hard though).

By the end I had Max in a full fun and he was defintely moving out trying to keep up with his trail buddy (my friend's horse and Max are very attached and I've found that he trailers better when he's with the other horse). After cooling down Max at the walk, we finally made our way back to the trailer. Max was completely coveed in sweat and he'd definitely gotten a good workout. :-)

This is probably one of the best trail rides I've ever taken and while it was only about three hours, it was a good workout for both Max and I and there appeared to be no leg issues. The Pelham bit seemed to have served it's purpose well and although we we need to work on the canter departs a bit with Max's "whoop-de-whoop" buckiing-out, it was still fine. Finally, when we got back to the stables, I made sure to give Max a dose of Bute along with his usual bucket of A&M, Omolene 200 and gloucosamine supplement.

I'll defintely be back soon! :-)

Heading back in a loop towards the start point.

Looking Northwest towards Las Virgenes Road. If you go far enough North, you will hit Chesebrough Canyon. If you go more West, you can eventually link up with trails that will take you towards Malibu Creek State Park (but it will be a LONG ride and you'll have to pass over some seriously paved streets to get over the 101 Freeway.

Looking Southeast towards the West San Fernando Valley. Once upon a time, before the developers screwed everything up, a lot of the Valley was like the foreground- I remember the last of it growing up in the West Valley. Jeeze, I was born 30 years too late!

Tent Pegging and Other Fun Stuff

Here's an interesting YouTube video that a friend passed along to me. Tent-pegging is a traditional equestrian game invented by bored cavalry troopers in the British Army during the 19th Century (at least that's my take on it) and it requires a high degree of skill. Although the target appear to be more like pieces of wood rather than normal tent pegs (which are smaller), they're still a challenge to hit. I've done some of this with old dishtowels (I know, pretty sad but that's all we could improvise at the time)/ I'd like to get into it more someday. I think Max would be pretty game for it. :-)

...and beer for my horses...

This one has always been a favorite with me...especially the "beer for my horses" part!

Before there Were "Horses" - The Hyracotherium

OK, a little history and science on the origins of the horse. Pictured below is a picture of the Hyracotherium, one of the precursors of the horse. Here's some information, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Hyracotherium averaged two feet (60-cm) in length and eight to 14-inches (20-cm) high at the shoulder and weighed about 50 pounds. It had four hoofed toes on each front foot and three hoofed toes on each hind foot. Each toe had a pad on its underside, similar to those of a dog. It had a primitive, short face with eye sockets in the middle and a short diastema (the space between the front teeth and the cheek teeth). The skull was long, having 44 low-crowned teeth. Although it had low-crowned teeth, the beginnings of the characteristic horse-like ridges on the molars can be seen. Hyracotherium is believed to have been a browsing herbivore that ate primarily soft leaves as well as some fruits and nuts and plant shoots.

Book Recommendation - The Warhorse

Just to put in a plug for War Horse: A History of the Military Horse and Rider by Louis A. Dimarco.

This book is essentially a history of cavalry from the perspective of the horse and rider and as such is a nuts-and-bolts survey of how cavalry as a military force developed and what it meant for the individual rider. Dimarco's survey is a bit "broad brush" in that it provides a broad overview (it covers cavalry from the beginning of time until its final demise in the mid-2oth Century). Overall, it's a pretty fast read and there's a lot of information. The best past is that it ties the horse in a historical context. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the role of the horse in military history.

Here's a more detailed description, courtesy of Amazon.com:

For more than four thousand years, the horse and rider have been an integral part of warfare. Armed with weapons and accessories ranging from a simple javelin to the hand-held laser designator, the horse and rider have fought from the steppes of central Asia to the plains of North America. Understanding the employment of the military horse is key to understanding the successes and the limitations of military operations and campaigns throughout history.

Over the centuries, horses have been used to pull chariots, support armor-laden knights, move scouts rapidly over harsh terrain, and carry waves of tightly formed cavalry. In War Horse: A History of the Military Horse and Rider, Louis A. DiMarco discusses all of the uses of horses in battle, including the Greek, Persian, and Roman cavalry, the medieval knight and his mount, the horse warriors—Huns, Mongols, Arabs, and Cossacks—the mounted formations of Frederick the Great and Napoleon, and mounted unconventional fighters, such as American Indians, the Boers, and partisans during World War II. The book also covers the weapons and forces which were developed to oppose horsemen, including longbowmen, pike armies, cannon, muskets, and machine guns.
The development of organizations and tactics are addressed beginning with those
of the chariot armies and traced through the evolution of cavalry formations
from Alexander the Great to the Red Army of World War II.

In addition, the author examines the training and equipping of the rider and details the types of horses used as military mounts at different points in history, the breeding systems that produced those horses, and the techniques used to train and control them. Finally, the book reviews the importance of the horse and rider to battle and military operations throughout history, and concludes with a survey of the current military use of horses. War Horse is a comprehensive look at this oldest and most important aspect of military history, the relationship between human and animal, a weapons system that has been central to warfare longer than any other.

Drivers- Watch out for Horses!

Wish we had this here in California:

After a Long Hot Ride...

Here's Max relaxing after a long, hot ride:





I always let him roll when we're done- sometimes you have to let a horse be a horse! :-)

Sunday...

Part of the rehab process for Max has been getting myself back into condition. Granted, I did ride other horses for the roughly two-month period that Max was off, but the muscle memory needs to be tuned up. In fact, it's just as important to get me back into condition as it is for Max. However, while things will go relatively easy for Max, there will be more work for me. :-)

We did our usual lesson this morning, preceeded by about an hour-long warm-up session. The warm-up primarily consisted of a lot of walking in the beginning, gradually moving up to trotting alternated with walking and finally, cantering alternating with trotting and walking. As part of this, I've also been doing a lot of transitions in order to get Max more attuned to my aids.

For myself, I did a number of sretching exercises (but as the lesson later proved, not enough!) to inlcude moving my hips from side-to-side, posting without stirrups (ouch!) and some other exercises.

Another area I've been working on with Max is to strenghthen him laterally by doing some shoulder-in work. For this, I will work him along the long side of an open area about 200-300 feet long (it's actually a driven dressage area) in each direction, first at the walk and then at the trot. It's really not a lot and I don't want to work him hard in this area.

OK, now to the lesson. Lots of leg yields and transitions! One of the key thinkgs here, at least for me, is leg yielding while at the same time maintining a good working trot. Max has a tendency to speed up in these in order to "get 'er done". Probelm is, it's not a matter of rushing but of precision, especially since he also likes to fishtail with his haunches out. It's a constant issue that I have to keep on top of Max about (helped along with a dressage whip to push his haunched into position. After about 20 minutes of this, Max finally settled down and we managed to get some nice leg-yields with minimal fishtailing at a working trot.

Some other things we worked on was alternating colecting and extensions at the trot and then the canter. The goals here were to keep quiet with the hands and use the seat and legs to do most fo the work. It requires some concentration but paid off in the end. The curb bit has really improved Max's collection because I can give him a bigger "hint" to start collecting up- there's no mistaking what I want (although sometimes I have to remind a little harder than I'd like).

In the end, we did some seriously collected canters, progressively slowing him down and focusing the enegy upwards- it should feel like the legs are working like pistons underneath you and while it may at first seem like the horse is crow-hopping, he really isn't- it's the shifting of weigt to the hanches. The other thing that will happen is that the haunches will drop slightly and it feels like you're going uphill- here you have to resist the tendency to start leaning forward (which totally destroys your seat). One of the major benefits to collection is that it will helpMax's arhritis in that more weight is being shifted to the rear, away from the front end where he seems to be affected the most.

After all of this, both of us were pretty tired out and I was sore, to say the least. We made our way home and Max definitely got a nice bucket of A&M and the rest of the day off (by this point we'd been three hours in the saddle).

We're getting there and so far, Max doesn't appear to be having any issues. :-)

Really Back in the Saddle _ Saturday

This past weekend was a good riding weekend. With the weather warming up considerably in the past few weeks (got to love California!), Max's leg problems appear to have mostly resolved and I've been gradually working him (as well as myself) up to his previous fitness levels. I didn't ride Max for part of November and most of December due to some leg issues (mostly arthritis, a crappy shoeing job and a stone bruise) so now we're getting back into the swing of things.

Saturday saw us participating in drill team practice with the Warhorse Militaria Heritage Foundation. This is the first time since switching to the Pelham bit that I have ridden him so I wanted to see how things would go- the curb bit is a whole new thing for both Max and I, so it was going to be interesting how it would work while having to deal with formations and other horses. I need not have worried...:-)

Max quickly fell back into his old routine and he renewed his acquataince with the other horses. They all get along for the most part so there were few issues in that department. The one thing that struck me is that Max was a lot more crisp on the turns, even with two-handed reining (actually I'm using double reins which makes things even more "busy"). Sometimes I was bit too crisp so I have to think more about moderating my rein effects so that I get more gradual turning action rather than abrupt cornering.

We worked first at the walk and then eventually trainsitioned into the trot. As a finale, we also cantered in line. Max, as usual, was eager to canter and would get so excited that he would move leap around some (sort of a ya hoo thing)- I'm used to this and quickly kicked him forward. When we repeated the exerciese, he settled down so the departure was more smooth. I had Max positioned more towards the inside because of his relative slowness and he did just fine, keeping up with the horses around him and overall having a good time. The nice thing is that when we would reach the ends of the arena, I was able to smoothly and quickly put Max into a collected canter with just a squeeze or two on the reins- so basically we were cantering at a slower pace wile the outside horses were moving at a full canter/gallop. Max seems to do better on a more inside position so hey, go with what works!

Afterwards, we all went on a long trail ride, crossing Wentworth and winding up at a small market where we stopped to buy drinks and take a break. There was a lot of green grass so Max munched contentedly while we drank gatorade. You couldn't ask for better weather.

Coming back, Max was a little full of himself so I have to work him a little bit and we had a "discussion" as to why I make the decisions. Since he raelly hasn't been out on the trail a lot, I wasn't too worried about it. Overall, it was a productive day and Max was rewarded with his usual bucket. :-)

On the Trail - Last Fall

OK, some more catching up... :-)

Last Fall, I hit the local trails with some friends of mine. Here's a few of the regular places that I ride:

I call this the "Jungle Trail"- this actually runs from the Haul Road by the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center to another major trail that leads towards Shadow Hills. The significant thing is that it crosses one of the major watercourses leading away from Big Tujunga. It can get really deep and fast during the rains.

Taking a break on the trail...Max and some of his friends enjoy some fresh green grass.

The river crossing. The water level was relatively low and easy to cross when this picture was taken.

Another view.

Long Beach Civil War Event - 2010

Last August, Max and I went on the road for a day down to El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach for a Civil War event. It wasn't a bad event although there were plenty of gopher holes to avoid although Max had a few excitable moments out there. Once he settled down, things went pretty good.

Moving out. As usual, Max is slower than everyone else and is struggling to keep up.

At the charge...the reason some of these pictures are off-kilter (sort of artistic...) is because they were taken by a guy lying on the ground who was acting as a casualty

Christmas Party 2010

OK, I have to admit that while I'm not the biggest social butterfly, the Christmas party at my friend's house was pretty cool. Here I am looking dapper in my Southerestern-themed outfit- pretty much what I used to wear in my SASS days. :-)

Happy New Years!

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

2010 wasn't bad but it wasn't the greatest either. I'm hoping for a better 2011 and I realize that I haven't posted anything since September. Let's just say life got in the way...I'll be better in 2011. Really. I promise! :-)