basic armor

[Tasia]

Salve Jeroen Pelgrom!

Yeah, he's a big boy. :lol: And he's the temperment of a pup. Too funny. If a little horse challenges he just walks (or runs!) away. He just wants to be mellow. No horsie drama.

In the image gallery there is one tombstone that is colored. It's a rider in gold on a black horse - which actually looks like Solon. Did they often color their tombs or was that for just an art affect?

Salve Travis!

A parade helmet would work perfectly and I hadn't thought of that! Thanks for the link. My goal is to learn some of the drills they did - which I read was also to perform in front of dignitaries - and perfrom them at an event.

Horses didn't have a lot of barding but the links I checked out on a thread I started on the cavalry shows some pretty impressive chamfrons.

Again, my thanks for all the wonderful information and discussions you've had here.

Tasia

[Matt Lukes]

Good thing he's mellow- I'd think it could be quite bad for a guy that size to have anything but a good temperment

It's my understanding that tombstones were often painted, although time hasn't been kind to most. There's been supposition too that details such as the straps of caligae were not carved often because they were simply painted on.

It does seem to have been a virtually universal thing for horse harnesses to be decorated with pendants, etc.- the highly ornate phalera with leafy pendant was certainly a popular type; I've seen examples that range from high quality (although not comparable to the unbelieveable examples on the page I gave you the link for), to very simple- but still the same form. Presumably the cavalryman's means dictated what quality of decoration he had on his mount's harness.

On the subject of barding, I have seen recreations of entire 'suits' of scale armor for a horse- although I do believe this was a late Roman thing- not high Imperial.

Matt

[Tasia]

Salve Matt!

When Solon was younger, before I bought him, he hadn't been treated very well at all. So it was a tough beginning because the poor pony didn't have a reason to trust anyone on two legs. He drug me all around the property. Then one day, he got a bad abscess in his hoof. I had to dress the hoof three times a day.

He finally seemed to realize I was there to care not to hurt him and we've been bonded ever since. It's pretty amazing.

On the Tombstones, it's amazing how most of them say, "His heirs had (this tombstone) set up by testament."

My favorite by far is "Longinus Sdapeze". I'd like to find out more about that one.

Tasia

[Caballo]

Re parade helmets- strongly suggest that you pad the mask if you want to retain a nose in a reasonable shape!! I've lined mine with leather, but am planning to add wool or fleece. The most authentic lining for the face mask is AFAIK is a wool glued lining (as found at Newstead). The Ribchester is FAR less comfortable to wear!!

And below is an illustration of one reconstruction from Fectio ( http://www.fectio.org.uk ) that might help/ give some ideas?





Cheers

PB

[ehryk]

Howdy all,

Great to see another Lady on the field! There arent enough

I have been in the SCA for about 18 years now. My first kit has been burned and all evidence/witnesses dispo... never mind. :lol: For SCA combat, I made a Newstead seg because the hinges are much beafier than the Kalkriese or Corbridge types and it pins together rather than the ties. I comissioned an IG H for normal fighting and for the Pas de Arms, I comissioned a Ribchester made from spring steel. After paying for all that repousse work, I dont want the first hit to dent it lol As for the areas that were not normally armored, I wear platic armor then put on a shirt I made just for the purpose of covoring it as well as a pair of braccae to covor the knee armor. I wear a pair of calcei I made (and they look like an ametures first try too lol) since no open toe shoes are allowed on the field and a focale over my gorget. My gauntlets are plastic with leather glued on. My scutum is rimmed with brass "U" stock (that was a LOT of work lol) and my parma is rimmed with rawhide over 1/2" climbers rope (MUCH easier).

I think I did about half a years worth of research before I even started cutting steel or leather, and I think it was worth it. This site, Legio XX and Florentius were my main sources of info, but there were also many many others that gave me ideas and info as well.

Read up, decide on what works for you and have fun, we need more Romans in the SCA

A. Flavius Britannicus
Drachenwald

[Magnus]

Holy crap that's a huge animal...horses scare the bejesus out of me.

Welcome to RAT Tasia!

[tlclark]

Holy crap that's a huge animal...horses scare the bejesus out of me.

Welcome to RAT Tasia!

LOL!

I'm glad I didn't say it first, but me too! :oops:

[Caius Fabius]

The hard part when doing Roman cavalry drill with a large horse, is hopping on while wearing full armor. Deepeeka makes a Roman saddle, but it is "one size fits all" which really doesn't work. However, if you have one, it might help you build a better one, or rework the one from Deepeeka. I have photos of Dan Peterson's Saddle, from top, side, bottom, back, and some of his horse furniture replicas. You have to mount from the left side, when you are carrying a shield, while most "western" and "dressage" horses are trained for right side mounting. That can take a couple of hours to retrain! I like big horses, 17+ hands, but then they aren't really "Roman" unless you suggest some of the temple breeds..... there are several good books, you seem to have a couple of the best. I may have a spare copy of one other, I'll have to look when I get my library sorted out.

[Theodosius the Great]

The hard part when doing Roman cavalry drill with a large horse, is hopping on while wearing full armor.

Yeah, armor or no armor, how do you mount a big horse without stirrups ?

Deepeeka makes a Roman saddle, but it is "one size fits all" which really doesn't work

Is there another supplier ? Does someone make custom-made ones ?

[Caballo]

Hi,

By vaulting on!!

From Vegetius, Book 1, chapter 18:-

"The vaulting of horses has always been vigorously demanded of both recruits an soldiers of many years service."

(So no getting fat on garrison duty! )

"This exercise has survived to the present day, albeit now with neglect. Wooden horses were set up under cover in winter, in summer on the training field. Over them recruits were made to vault at first unarmed, until they had gained experience, then in arms. Such care was taken that they learned to jump on and off from both the right hand side and from the left, even holding drawn swords and lances. This theylikewise performed with constant practise naturally so as to be able to mount without delay in the stress of battle, having trained with such dedication in peace."

As so often, I am impressed by our ancestors, and...

...on the drawn swords and lances bit, like they say on television "don't try this at home"!

Cheers

PB

[Praefectusclassis]

"His heirs had (this tombstone) set up by testament."

Missed this until now. It's not actually very surprising Tasia. Roman soldiers were usually careful to make sure they got a proper burial; a contribution to a communal burial fund on every payday was normal. Their legalistic minds made sure, moreover, that is was carefully established who could make a military will and what could be in it.

[Peroni]

There is a type of horse barding shown on the Metopes of the Tropeum Traiani at Adamklissi.

http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/archive/arma/c ... tope01.htm

same metope here..

http://dirtyredcommie.com/gallery/v/lis ... G.jpg.html

and another...

http://dirtyredcommie.com/gallery/v/lis ... G.jpg.html

Not typical barding that we would associate with the likes of the Dura Europos scale trapper, but barding nonetheless. It appears to consist of a triangular (leather?) fronticepiece protecting the vulnerable area of the horses chest.

This type of barding can also be seen on the tombstone of the equites Sextus Valerivs Genialis (Ala I Thracvm)

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/ ... aethra.jpg

Kind regards,

[Praefectusclassis]

This type of barding can also be seen on the tombstone of the equites Sextus Valerivs Genialis (Ala I Thacvm)

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/ ... aethra.jpg

In that case, might as well point to the imagebase:
http://www.romanarmy.com/imb/imagebase-show.asp?ID=151 where that same photo and others can be seen. :wink: