Cavalry Charges

[Aulus Perrinius]

(I finally got a little respite from RL) So I'm probably opening a can of worms but. . . Anyhow, my question is: Can Horses be trained to charge what they think is a solid object? What is your opinion? Yes? No?

[M. Demetrius]

This question has been discussed at great length, with much argumentation. The question then, was "Can horses be trained to charge into a spear wall."

Seems to me, iirc, you were in on that discussion way back then. The very short answer is, "Yes, it is possible."

The obvious counter question is, "Is that a good idea?", to which most reasonable people would say, "No, of course not. Once you are unhorsed, you are probably at extreme disadvantage."

[Titus Juventius Tertius]

I had this argument with another guy on a different forum about horses charging into shield walls (and spear walls). I tried explaining that MOST cavalry charges and maneuvers involved flanking, rear attacks, or pursuits. Horses just didn't charge straight into a head on force. Though, in some rare instances it is documented that they did.

I wouldn't say it's impossible for them to do it... and one would think that if they were properly (extensively) trained to charge objects and be surrounded by screaming men with weapons that they could tolerate it. But I just don't see horses used by say Caesar or Augustus having been trained that way. The horse wasn't the pinnacle of the Roman Empire or the Greeks or most other nearby regions. I just don't see that much going into them.

But then again that's my opinion as I really haven't been shown otherwise. From what I have seen of real horse cavalry and the stories I've read... they just don't strike head-on like people are lead to believe.

[Sean Manning]

One example is the Battle of Northalerton in 1138: Scottish knights (or at least, the Scot king's knights) broke through a line of English spearmen and archers with their first charge. But there weren't many Scottish knights, and the Scots lost that battle.

At Magnesia in 190 BCE, Antiochus' cataphracts may have driven a Roman legion back into its camp in disorder (see Bezalel Bar Kochva?'s book on the Seleucid army). But Antiochus lost that battle.

Several early 16th century battles involved men-at-arms charging pike columns. The men-at-arms were either repulsed or broke through without destroying the enemy formation, but we know the two sides came to blows in some of these fights.

We need more research on the mechanics of combat between infantry and shock cavalry, but the idea that cavalry and steady close-order infantry never came to blows is incorrect.