Hard riding no saddles or stirrups

[floofthegoof]

The question is not is this or that tactic expensive in material or lives, but... can it be done and will it prevent defeat?

These two questions though are really two ways to ask the same question. How do you train cavalry to give you most benefit in war?

I have no doubt that many times in history this or that horseman went head over horse-shoes into an enemy formation with great effect, sometimes even surviving in rare occasions. But given the risks and expense, I doubt that these people were expected to, or trained to, fight that way.

Many in this thread seem to view the medieval times as the age of 'shock' cavalry. I really have to take exception to this because these people were very high ranking and notoriously self interested to the point of being scarcely controllable by anyone. I bet they roamed the battle field looking for easy pickings, alot more often than face other nobles in combat. I bet battering ram charges happened less in medieval times than in any other time.