Did you miss Part 1? Find it here!
Dispelling Writing Riding Tropes
1) bareback VS Saddle
Often I’ve read about a frantic protagonist who has never ridden a horse before (or rarely has) who hops on a horse bareback, sets off at a gallop, and is fine. I’m going to burst the bubble here: your protagonist fell off and broke their neck. Or didn’t even make it to getting on the horse, as it’s not easy to do (especially if you’ve never done it before). Give your protagonist either time enough to get their horse tacked up, or give them riding skills (even if very basic).
If you’re going to have your protagonist riding bareback, consider the gait the horse is moving at. A walk is easy. A trot is exceptionally bumpy on the average horse, and a canter/lope feels like riding a wave. Your character probably is just falling off if they’re riding a gallop bareback unless they’re an extremely talented horseman with a great seat.
2) Rein Slapping
Reins are connected to the bit, which is in the horse’s mouth. Slapping the horse with the reins sends reverberations down to the mouth or actively shakes the bit, which can cause pain. Please don’t encourage this. Have your protagonists use their legs to ask for movement. And they don’t need to yank on the horse’s mouth to stop. A horse might need a gentle pull on the reins, but a rider should use their seat.
“By the time she tired, her coat was dark and slick with sweat. Somehow she still managed to find the energy to spook at a training flag at the opposite end of the arena.
Merikh brought Remahdi to the arena’s center. He set himself deeper into the saddle, and the mare stopped firmly. As much as he tried to keep the barn a retreat from politics, it never failed to follow him here.”
3) multiple riders, one horse
Be kind to your fictional horses. Most horses can carry one rider comfortably, two riders if necessary. Anything more than that is going to hurt your horse or, quite simply, not fit on the horse to begin with. Consider the size of your character’s horse. Something delicately built like an Arabian is not going to comfortably fit three riders on it. A horse the size of a Shire, on the other hand, can more comfortably fit two and maybe be sweet enough to endure a third (but certainly not at any haste).
4) Get on and go
Unless your characters are in the utmost haste (the antagonist is literally right behind them), please give your riders time to warm up their horses. Wild horses walk, trot, canter quite a bit naturally during their day. A horse at pasture does so too, but a stalled horse spends a great deal of unnatural time standing. That means that they need to warm up before you can take off at a canter or gallop with them. Conversely, if they’ve been under saddle for a long time (especially if there has been a lot of difficult terrain or fast movement) then they also need cooling down.
How To Use A Warhorse
Horses have several different uses in war. There are plenty of places to look up cavalry techniques, so I’ll leave it to better tacticians to describe those to you. But as far as individual horse and rider, I can help with that.
Horses are best used defensively to protect the rider. There are several dressage maneuvers which have developed out of warhorse use. They are the levade, croupade, courbette, capriole, and ballotade. Collectively, these are referred to as airs above ground. The names in particular you don’t need to memorize, but they should be looked into and videos watched of them before you try to write them into a scene.
“Another grenade exploded, but this time it felled more rioters than guards. In the chaos, another group of Onyx Swords or rioters slipped past Merikh’s guards. Zahira tensed. Merikh sat deep in the saddle as the mare drew up her forelegs, leaned back, and launched herself into the air, kicking out with her back feet. She nearly slipped when her hooves hit the cobblestones beneath them. She recovered quickly, and at Merikh’s urging, broke through the startled line of men in front of them.”
levade
Similar to a rear, but with improved balance on the hind legs (minimal risk of falling over). It exposes the belly of the horse, but a horse can be taught to strike with its forelegs from this position.
Limited usefulness.
courbette
Start with a levade, the horse then jumps up and forward to land back on their hind legs.
Same problems as the levade, but more defensive for the rider as anyone standing in front of the horse is going to be either shoved out of the way or crushed when the horse returns to standing.
capriolle
Starts with a levade, the horse then leaps forward and kicks backward while at the peak airborne phase, then lands in a new forward position
A capriolle is described in the above quote. It is a highly technical maneuver but by far the most useful underutilized maneuver that a warhorse can (or should be) able to do. It can help clear the space around a rider, and a hit from a horse’s back legs will shatter bones and/or kill the person hit.
Last, but not least, a simple kick from those hind legs is a powerful weapon that a rider (whether on or off) the horse can use. It provides a more stable position for the horse to maneuver from, less likelihood of falling over, and the hindquarter muscles are much stronger than the forequarter.
