@carthorse yes I wouldn't expect a medieval or Renaissance horse to size up like a Comtois or a Percheron, but it gives the feel of the type, if you know what I mean. From pictures, I would say some of the European great horses looked very like Percherons, enormously substantial in bone but with that sense of presence and refinement that comes from some hot blooded ancestors. I love Percherons!
Some war horses lived long lives. Alexander's horse Bucephalus carried him into battle on countless occasions, was often wounded and a couple of times stolen (and returned when the thieves realised that Alexander would destroy their entire country one village at a time to get his horse back). He died in his mid twenties on the road to India - Bucephalus, that is, not Alexander, who died in his thirties on the way back... One or two medieval knights kept their warhorses for ten years or more, fighting regularly - they had numerous other horses to ride for everything else, even to the battlefield and back, to keep their destriers fresh. The warhorse only worked for training and in battle. It could break a knight financially to have his horse killed under him. But of course many did die, and were often sorely missed by their owners.
If anyone is interested in the whole medieval warfare thing, including war horses, there's a great series of historical novels by Miles Cameron, a Canadian author: the Chivalry series. It takes a couple of books before the hero is rich enough to have horses, but they are very much a part of the story after that. Mr Cameron is a medieval historian and passionate historical re-enactor and knows what he's talking about, including the bits about horses!
Some war horses lived long lives. Alexander's horse Bucephalus carried him into battle on countless occasions, was often wounded and a couple of times stolen (and returned when the thieves realised that Alexander would destroy their entire country one village at a time to get his horse back). He died in his mid twenties on the road to India - Bucephalus, that is, not Alexander, who died in his thirties on the way back... One or two medieval knights kept their warhorses for ten years or more, fighting regularly - they had numerous other horses to ride for everything else, even to the battlefield and back, to keep their destriers fresh. The warhorse only worked for training and in battle. It could break a knight financially to have his horse killed under him. But of course many did die, and were often sorely missed by their owners.
If anyone is interested in the whole medieval warfare thing, including war horses, there's a great series of historical novels by Miles Cameron, a Canadian author: the Chivalry series. It takes a couple of books before the hero is rich enough to have horses, but they are very much a part of the story after that. Mr Cameron is a medieval historian and passionate historical re-enactor and knows what he's talking about, including the bits about horses!
