Waterloo50
Major
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2015
- Location
- England
First off, I have to admit that I know very little about horses, I’ve never owned one and I wouldn’t know how to ride one either. If I was to be totally honest I’d have to say that they always strike me as unpredictable animals that could cause serious injury to themselves and the rider especially if they are not controlled properly.
Whenever I’ve come into contact with horses they always seem very skittish, it seems to me that it takes very little to frighten them which brings me to my point. Today I was riding my motorcycle down a very twisty and narrow country lane when I happened upon a couple of people riding their horses, whenever I see a horse on the road I always stop and cut my engine because I know that my motorcycle is quite loud and the sound of it can cause a horse to panic, today, I didn’t have time to stop and cut my engine and the result was that the two horses became a little bit lively, one of the horses slipped on the wet road as it tried to bolt through a hedge, in fact the rider really looked like she was struggling to get the horse under control, everything was okay though and luckily both horse and rider were okay.
Today’s incident with the panicked horse made me wonder how horses can be trained to ignore the loud noise of a battlefield, Ive seen horses freak out at the most simplest of things, I’ve seen a horse run when a small bag was blown across the road, every sudden movement appears to frighten and unsettle them.
I believe I’m correct in saying that many of the horses that served in the cavalry (both sides) were privately owned which probably means that those horses had never been trained to be in a battlefield environment, how was a horse trained or was it a case of wait and see how the horse reacted under fire. Finally (I did say I know nothing about horses) was there a particular type/breed of horse that the cavalry had a preference for? I’m really hoping that you horse types can educate me.
Whenever I’ve come into contact with horses they always seem very skittish, it seems to me that it takes very little to frighten them which brings me to my point. Today I was riding my motorcycle down a very twisty and narrow country lane when I happened upon a couple of people riding their horses, whenever I see a horse on the road I always stop and cut my engine because I know that my motorcycle is quite loud and the sound of it can cause a horse to panic, today, I didn’t have time to stop and cut my engine and the result was that the two horses became a little bit lively, one of the horses slipped on the wet road as it tried to bolt through a hedge, in fact the rider really looked like she was struggling to get the horse under control, everything was okay though and luckily both horse and rider were okay.
Today’s incident with the panicked horse made me wonder how horses can be trained to ignore the loud noise of a battlefield, Ive seen horses freak out at the most simplest of things, I’ve seen a horse run when a small bag was blown across the road, every sudden movement appears to frighten and unsettle them.
I believe I’m correct in saying that many of the horses that served in the cavalry (both sides) were privately owned which probably means that those horses had never been trained to be in a battlefield environment, how was a horse trained or was it a case of wait and see how the horse reacted under fire. Finally (I did say I know nothing about horses) was there a particular type/breed of horse that the cavalry had a preference for? I’m really hoping that you horse types can educate me.
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