North British Horses

[Nathan Ross]

since we are in an era of no stirrups, long legs would hang too far down and either catch in the horse's forelegs or even the ground (bushes, tussucks of grass etc)adding to a lack of balance.

I read somewhere (perhaps in Aitcheson's Picts and Scots at War) that Pictish riders possibly sat far forward on the horse with their legs sticking forward, presumably to keep their feet free of the horse's legs. I don't know whether this is derived from experiment, or just the Pictish stone reliefs, which often appear to show the rider's feet projecting in front of the horse! Would this be a feasible seat? I imagine it would be very uncomfortable for anything but short rides...