Introduction of the stirrup

[ambrosius]

Yes sorry, I missed your point about it being the Household Cavalry. :oops: [quote]

No worries, mate.

No, it wouldn't matter which side. Slash to the right and stab to the left. That's how they are trained to this day.

But could that be because the horses no longer wear chamfrons and
neck-protectors, I wonder...

The leather chamfron from Newstead did have ear flaps at the front, but not substantial enough to stop a cut to the ears from the rider. Here's a reconstruction. The ears are still free to move about.

Yes, the Newstead one still has both ear flaps intact. There's also one
from Vindolanda that has ear flaps. As far as I know, these are the only
two almost intact leather chamfrons found in Britain, both with flaps.
I still think that the flaps would be almost as effective against a wayward
slash from the rider as from an oncoming enemy. And after all, with all
the training Roman cavalry were put through, I'd be surprised (and
disappointed) if a rider was just as likely to slash his own horse's ears
as the enemy was. I can undarstand the enemy making them a target,
as it could be a good way to disable you, but you're going to be a bit
more careful if it's your own mount, surely; out of self-preservation.

The metal chamfrons from Straubing etc don't seem to have any ear protection. This may be because they were designed for hippika gymnasia as opposed to full combat.

True. Or maybe they had leather flaps that didn't survive. They would
have required linings to go under the metal chamfrons, anyway, surely,
either linen or leather. So what better than to have extensions to the
leather lining to for ear-protectors? Or maybe us Brits just took better
care of our cavalry mounts than they did on the continent. Out of two
British chamfrons, both have ear-flaps. I reckon that makes it 2:0 to us
in chamfron flaps (though I don't see it being that way in the World Cup.


Regards,

Ambrosius