[gothic-l] Gothic Cavalry Strength

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hello, Bertil

I am glad to hear that. Same here.

>On cavalry see my latest contribution. The question is, among
>other things, who were the most powerful cavalrymen: Goths,
>Huns or the American indians?

I think I found it. I will put my bet on the American Indians.
They could hide on one side while in full gallop.
Somehow people with Chinese blood are just better.
The Goths were heavy and large. Not very good horseriders.
But of course they used horses. They had to. Just like we have
to use cars, even if everybody can't be Michael Schumacher
or whatever his name is.


>Certainly horses needed water too but grainfeeding was typical
>during cavalry campaigns, also in the American West. As an
>example the Corps commander of the Scandinavian Corps
>during the ABW let the horses graze when the Boers were surrounding
>Kimberley. Suddenly the British attacked and the Scandinavians
>found themselves being footsoldiers.

I know. I've seen the Lucky Luke cartoons where "Jolly Jumper"
always gets to munch a sack of oats at the end of the day.
Carbohydrates give a boost in the blood sugar.
But if you look at humans, you will see that arctic people
like the Easkimos can do with far less carbohydrates than
us lazy TV watching westerners. The same thing with the horses.
They too can probably adapt quite well to less rich foods,
and in the end even improve their endurance.

But back to the cowboys or the U.S. Cavalry. If they are backed
up by a railway system, there is no reason not to transport
stores of oatmeal to the area where the horses operate.
Oats are so healthy because they contain much more proteins than
other kinds of cereals. But maybe such well fed warriors are
not so good at taking out the last bit. The sinewy and agile
Huns beat the Goths. The American Indians beat Custer.
But in the long run the overfed and less agile "civilized"
people tend to pull the longest straw. Witness the exit of the Huns,
and Custer's opponents, the American Indians, they too lost.

Thanks for your always valuable Gothic perspective.

e-mailically
Keth



>Gothically
>
>Bertil

>> Passing through thinly populated araes could also be
>> solved by using special pack horses. That is, horses
>> without riders that only carried supplies. Of course
>> in dry areas water might be a problem, because horses
>> do need to drink quite a lot. And it is best if you
>> allow them to drink several times a day.
>>
>> The horse came to Scandinavia during the Bronze Age.
>> If the Goths came from Scandinavia, they must already
>> have used horses then.



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