Medieval Footman VS Mounted Knight: Advice for the Fighter on Foot

[@RedHandedGod]

One thing I'd like to see is the practical ability for Zachary to defend himself with different types of shield on horseback (i.e. how much better is the kite/teardrop shield over the later heater shield).

[@Robert399]

probably worse tbh

[@calebcampbell9280]

Me, who's equestrian experience is 99% from Mount & Blade: "Hmm yes, indeed." [nods in agreement]

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Where horsies run tirelessly, and like F1 cars.

[@Lionbug]

@@Taistelukalkkuna F1 + F3 cars you might say

[@iamshangyee]

@@Lionbug F1 + F2 cars if you are really into micros

[@dizzt19]

In a traditional fashion, it too Matt 90 seconds to explain the context before the other person got a word in... xD

[@texasbeast239]

Matt even had to edit a break in there to cut part of his own talking out. So he probably went even longer than 90 sec!

[@MtRevDr]

Poor horse waiting there for the talk. That is a horse's life.

[@spyrofrost9158]

@@MtRevDr Nobody ever listens to the horse.

[@VanguardArmament]

"Down here, he's an incredibly strong great big animal" I wish someone would say that about me

[@aparioss1072]

- ur parents, selling u at the farmer black market -

[@GallowglassAxe]

Stop skipping leg day.

[@Robert399]

@@GallowglassAxe I don't think he was talking about his legs...

[@kleinjahr]

Note also that a man on foot has a tighter turn radius than the horse. This allows him to find the optimum spot to attack. With properly trained horse and rider there are methods that negate this advantage , see the Spanish School Lipizzaners.

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

Pietro Monte described how the combatant on foot has the option to attack the horse underneath on its belly, whether intentionally or opportunistically if overrun by the animal. He noted that "nearly all footsoldiers" fail to do this in practice, & that it takes considerable courage to face a rider even though the person on foot in theory can do so successfully.

[@predwin1998]

I think this is further enhanced by the riders mobility allowing them to essentially choose their engagements most of the time. Even if one would encounter such a brave and skilled footman, if the horseman recognizes this in time he'd just ride away and find one of many potential others targets who would break under the immense pressure of facing a mounted knight. In a one-on-one situation the horseman might not notice this in time, but on a battlefield the footmen most likely to properly stand up to the cavalry are those surrounded by fellow soldiers who'd do the same, AKA those in an infantry block that doesn't break cohesion at an incoming charge. Which would likely result in the cavalry abandoning the charge and finding some other targets elsewhere on the field isntead. So those footsoldiers who would manage to fend off a horseman like that are the least likely to actually find themselves fighting one directly.

[@simonbrooke4065]

@@predwin1998 I'd agree that in open field conditions, the combatant with greater manouverability will use that advantage to avoid engaging except on terms favourable to him. But urban fighting, or fighting in woodland or scrub or on broken ground or bog, would negate this to a greater or lesser extent. One on one, in an open, level, firm field, my money would be on the horseman. Hint to the footman: choose your ground.

[@davidtuttle7556]

@@simonbrooke4065 like Moray and Wallace did at Stirling?

[@predwin1998]

@@simonbrooke4065 I agree. Additionaly, while I don't want to give the impression that knights were fools, it can also be noted that the cavalry was often chosen based on who had access to the proper equipment (warhorses), which meant that *some* knights could be arrogant/foolish enough to be lured into a fight they should and could have avoided, perhaps due to peer pressure or something. I'd say Agincourt is a good example of mounted men-at-arms taking a fight they really shouldn't have. P.S. While you don't seem like someone who would assume knights were just arrogant rich dudes in armour, the emphasis I put on stating that would be the exception was aimed at others who might read this conversation.

[@simonbrooke4065]

@@davidtuttle7556 The Scots waited until 'about 2,000' of Hugh de Cressingham's troops - apparently mainly cavalry - had crossed the extremely narrow bridge, and were hemmed in on a small area of soft ground, before they launched their attack. The attack drove de Cressingham's force away from the bridge into a bend of the river on extremely soft ground. Outnumbered more than two to one by mainly light infantry while tightly packed in a bog with no escape route, it's hardly surprising that de Cressingham's cavalry was cut to pieces. It's also significant that the Scots commanders, on the Abbey Mount, had a clear strategic view of the field of battle, while the English side did not - so the Scots command and control will have been better.

[@jm9371]

Amazing Horse!... such a well disciplined animal. Of course the rider is a pro.. but still very impressed with the animal.

[@aginorchuain77]

Having seen Jason Kingsley's videos with him galopping full speed in armor I can't help but think that I'd be absolutely terrified by even one mounted knight attacking me, let alone a group of them. I mean: even when you stab at them (and timing might not be easy to do damage), there's still a metric ton of mass coming at you at 30km/h

[@mattjack3983]

For sure. It would be incredibly scary. And most of the time the horse itself was pretty well armored as well. Not to mention that a knight would have also been riding a bigger horse than the one shown in this video. They would have been on a big destrier warhorse, bred specifically for the purpose of being rode into battle. Mounted knights really were like the tanks of the medieval period. They were just incredibly difficult to kill. I certainly wouldnt want to find myself on a battlefield with one of them running me down, thats for sure.

[@jmclean7006]

Just got off a weekend event being infantry against cav doing some of Mair’s and Fiore’s plays. so good to see this side of HEMA get more attention!

[@ryuukake]

I have a theory, as HEMA seems to rise in popularity anti populists join and want to do things other than the normal swords. they want to do axes, and spears, because those are not normal. My sister kind of did this by learning fencing with her left hand

[@ryuukake]

She is naturally right handed,

[@deputydynamo]

That is so awesome! I hope to join one of those weekends myself sometime!

[@ilejovcevski79]

Being run down, bullied or knocked out of the way is indeed (or better said, would be) my primary concern when fighting mounted opposition. The momentum he can command is just so much more then any brace i can pull.

[@stevenkobb156]

Yes, unless a footman gets a surprise hit in the crush of battle, I can't imagine a one-on-one duel ending in any way but a fallen footman covered in hoof prints.

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

@@stevenkobb156 Pietro Monte wrote that this was no big deal, that even if you were unarmored & trampled by a horse, it still shouldn't be able to hurt you enough to prevent you from killing it by attacking its belly as it rides over you. He did, however, note, that soldiers on foot almost always failed to do this theoretically obvious thing in practice, that it required considerable courage to accomplish.

[@PaletoB]

Probably depends a lot on the horse. If it's trained to think and move on it's own while being really aggressive. I wouldn't want to fight it even without a rider on top.

[@ilejovcevski79]

@@PaletoB well said

[@simonbrooke4065]

@@stevenkobb156 In an open field with no cover, the horseman has a lot of advantage.

[@Mupworp]

32:10 "if we look at the Bolognese sauces..."

[@nowthenzen]

Matt: "we're not going to stab the horse" Horse: "Gimme' a carrot"

[@dysomniak]

Having known horses I guarantee this is the entirety of what goes through that animal's big stupid head.

[@nowthenzen]

@@dysomniak sounds ideal to me; if my entire burden was simply wondering where by next carrot would be coming from ... paradise

[@bigyin2794]

Obviously in real life you hit the horse and get it to bolt or rear up and dismount the rider, then the rider is toast.

[@mortache]

@@bigyin2794 assuming you're still alive lol

[@JustGrowingUp84]

Aww, beautiful horse wants some pets! Very interesting video Matt. I sure hope you and Zach get to do some more videos.

[@silverjohn6037]

Meanwhile, if the horse was an old sergeant major horse, "Ok you two you keep swinging those pointy things around I'm goin to run about 200 meters that way. Rider, you can come along if you behave, but this is not up for debate. We'll come back after that at full speed but I'm not doing anything useful standing still."

[@khartog01]

I love when Matt is discussing the horse, he just wants pets from Matt.

[@antivalidisme5669]

Love the concept and loved the exchange. Glad I discovered Zach's chan thanks to this cooperation. Zach's horse is incredibly beautiful by the way!

[@Nickrioblanco1]

Superb idea for a video. The wind gives me an excuse to watch multiple times. Thank you and keep up the great work.

[@johnpauldwyer2034]

This is really cool! Great job creating consistent content while keeping the topics of the videos unique and interesting! Thanks and keep it up!

[@gabrieladonai9427]

I like to point out that physically the lunge seems a very risky move against an armored rider, because you'd probably lose your pole weapon before you'd knock the rider. You are putting your pole weapon's balance point really far out your reach with that move, and if it hits solid enough, any angle in impact will be felt really hard on your grip, possibly twisting it out. It probably is useful, however maybe the fact it's not really safe/reliable is a reason why it never went into the medieval sources, only showing up when armor started to fade out from the battlefield because of guns

[@shaidrim]

When I saw your preview of this video I thought you were about to make a collab with Jason, but Zac looks very competent too. I will subscribe to his channel for sure. Nice video 👍

[@KartarNighthawk]

Currently writing an article on a similar topic, looking at the ability of Early Medieval infantry to face down horsemen, with Hastings and Zallaqa as the primary case studies. At one you've got housecarls with Dane axes holding out against Norman cav until the end of the day, at the other the countercharge of the sword and assegai armed Blackguard routs the Spanish knights.

[@lloveAphmau]

Zack, you're far more of a subject matter expert than most of us watching, don't be so apologetic or self dismissive buddy, humility is good but as I'm always telling my wife where you have actual authority be confidence in it and project it, especially if you're holding anything back we all want to know on the subject due to excess humility, great to watch you, its plainly obvious you know and have exercised far more than you're letting on, I hope you're on more videos

[@SandraOrtmann1976]

That was very, very interesting. My thanks to everybody involved. It was really interesting to see the pictures from the treatises put into practice, so to speak.

[@blackbadger4419]

First off, that's a beautiful horse! Secondly, absolutely fantastic video! So many insightful thoughts and ideas about a topic that (for practical reasons) is largely neglected or only looked at from a very theoretical standpoint by others. Loved it.

[@keithallardice6139]

As always, a pleasure to watch, instructive and informative .. can't wait for part 2!!

[@LeonM4c]

Great video Matt! I love these hands on videos, this is the stuff making HEMA greater and greater by the day!

[@Briver64]

Thank you two for making this video. I'm planning an animation of two knights fighting and at one point I want one to be on foot, the other on his horse. So I needed to look up what the knight on foot could do to even the playing field. This really helped and gave me some idea of what I could put in to make the fighting believable.

[@lanequick7451]

I haven’t been more excited to watch a video in a long time!

[@culture-nature-mobility7867]

A crossover/collaboration like this is so valuable! Please keep on with content like that! 👍💪🙂 So often I thought about "real" historical combat which I guess for 99% didn't consist of one on one sword duels rather than polearms, shields, missile weapons, cavalry and most importantly groups of people against groups of people (be it rather unorganized in melees or organized in formations) in a "real" environment (mud, castles, villages, cities, other difficult terrain).

[@grantcox4764]

Fantastic video Matt, very informative and entertaining. Please bring us more...

[@valkoharja]

An excellent video! Many thanks to both of you, Matt and Zach.

[@chrisnotyourbusines7739]

Back in the day when I used to participate in riots I faced mounted police a couple of times. Very very scary and i can't even imagine how it would be if they actually charged at us. Also..what a video! What a production value! Thanks so much!

[@hansjohannsen6722]

This style video is indespencable!! Thanks for sharing.

[@barretharms1432]

Thank you for finally realizing that the Lance is used in either one or two strikes in most instances

[@barretharms1432]

I've trained myself to see kinetic energy When I close my eyes I find it has helped me in fencing and I saw a flaw in everybody's statement that a landscape be used multiple times yes it can when's the horse remains basically still as soon as the horse Lynch's the Lance will snap and if armor grabs the Lance you have to drop It or Break It

[@JC-Denton]

Black Horse, Black shirt in the end. Don't know, if that was deliberate, but it sure is a nice little detail... Cheers, J.

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Love this content! Would love to see the Fiore footman vs. cavalry stuff more in detail as you said as well as other specific techniques from sources. Would love to see stuff with both combatants mounted as well, that's something sorely lacking in the community!

[@Jacob-W-5570]

wow, I do a lot of backpacking, and occasionally meet horse (and rider) on the trails, but those horses are 9/10 spooked by us by the backpacks changing the shape. And here you are waving pike spear sword shield around.. and the only thing the horse is bothered with is the fact that you didn't bring an apple.

[@bigguy7353]

Two different types of horses exposed to completely different stimuli. Apples and oranges.

[@itsapittie]

As a horseman and cavalry reenactor, I can address that. It comes down to two things -- selecting the right horse and doing enough training. Many horses can be taught to tolerate those things but certainly not all of them. After finding a horse with the right temperament, it's a matter of doing a lot of training. I won't go into the techniques for that but there are a number of ways to do it. Obviously it also involves a lot of trust for both partners. The horse learns that the rider won't take him into a situation where he will get hurt and the rider learns that when the horse is hesitant to do something it might be wise to reevaluate. I don't know where you're hiking but it's very likely that most of the riders you encounter haven't selected their horses for that and haven't spent a lot of time training them to tolerate things they haven't seen before. People select their horses for a lot of reasons and everything involves compromises.

[@markfergerson2145]

@@itsapittie Even in more modern times, horses had to be selected for tolerance to gunfire whether from the rider or from others. Some horses will more or less ignore it, others become uncontrollable.

[@itsapittie]

@@markfergerson2145 Oh, absolutely. I've trained horses to gunfire for cavalry competition. Some of them just aren't suited and will never get it. Some are dead easy to train. Most can be trained with enough time and patience.

[@poppymason-smith1051]

and to add to what Kelton is on about, even nowadays certain horse breed are bred for different things. most horse breed you encounter in europe or used for hacking nowadays have been bred from riding stock meant for hunting and jumping as sports. they have not been selectively bred to be docile and amiable and brave. you can hear reaction anecdotes about how arabs, thoroughbreds and warmbloods behave and react. and then how pres, shetlands and cobs react. ofc all horses are different but there are generalisations of how they cope with certain things. and in those days some horse were bred for war, so were they bred to be brave? which is certainly not something they are being selectively bred for today. and e.g. quarter horses are bred to herd cattle and ik someone and have heard from others that some even bred in the uk and with no prior experiences to cows will try to herd and drive them when first introduced

[@dougsinthailand7176]

Brilliant. Full marks, Matt!

[@GallowglassAxe]

This is an amazing video and I enjoyed every bit of it. I've been talking with one friend who does SCA and she specializes mounted competitions. We discuss a lot about this and different styles of horsemanship. I would be really interested in the pros and cons of the different grips used on horse (Overhand, underhand, and the couched).

[@MarcRitzMD]

I'd like to see whether it would be advantageous and realistic for the horseman to just ride away to then turn and charge. Also, do some full speed agility maneuvers! I wanna know how easy it is for you to outmaneuver a horseman

[@airnt]

this was the explicit advice throughout the cenutries, this was known in Italian as a 'repulon' and in franch as a 'passade' the tightness of the turns at the end is quite significant to make it an effective technique. sidestepping is not really as easy as people presume as a horse can be very easily made to follow with a lot of precision, in fact side stepping very much encourages the horse. stepping towards can also be accomodated by the rider in a way akin tot he rejoneo bullfight, for instance. the sidestep of a horse is generally much larger than the step of the human.

[@sjwoo13]

@Satanas Luciferi we got a badass over here.

[@retardcorpsman]

@Satanas Luciferi There's 3 main problems when it comes to "Side stepping" a charging horse. 1: If you're in a set piece battle, your mate by your side will block you 2: If your entire formation does decide to side step with you, the entire formation will scatter, lose cohesion and allow the horsemen to pass through your lines unscathed 3: Horses can turn on a dime. There's always a chance that a horseman might see you sidestepping and decide to strafe his horse to your direction before you could even hit him back. You should see how good horses are at turning when they come to a halt.

[@chrissymcgee5930]

Great video, I have to say that the only time I would have wanted to see horses on a medieval battle ground would be if I was in the middle of a pike square. Just imagining what a large cavalry charge must have been like sends shivers down the spine. I know it's a bit later in time but if I had a time machine I would want to witness the cavalry charge at the Battle of Vienna, 1683.

[@itsapittie]

Up until the advent of semi-automatic rifles, the cavalry charge still had some utility against unsupported infantry. Obviously machine guns would change the equation but there are examples as late as WW1 of infantry in the open being cut up by cavalry. A horse can close the distance from out-of-range to right on top of you so fast that someone with a bolt-action rifle can get off two or three shots at a moving target before he's skewered. The last cavalry charge by the U.S. Army took place against the Japanese on the Philippine Islands in January of 1942 but they used semi-automatic pistols against the Japanese bolt-action rifles so you could say the advantage lay mostly with the cavalrymen in that case.

[@OriginalAi93]

First time coming across you guys. GREAT WORK!

[@dantherpghero2885]

Am I the only one who kept hearing Sir Jason (of Modern History TV) saying "Good boy" to the horse in their head?

[@stoker1931jane]

Nope, you aren't 😉✌🏻

[@RoninOfTheVerse]

Love this video, never thought to look on this platform to learn this

[@AlexanderCornel]

Awesome collaboration

[@LeonMichielS]

This calls for a coop with Jason Kingsley! Modern history TV please?

[@ModernKnight]

He knows where I am!

[@hypnotik1314]

Super interesting. I have never given too much thought on this subject. Great unique video.

[@elbato_OP]

This is an unusual topic and one i always wondered! Thank you so much!

[@Thesandchief]

i would love to see techniques from "the mamluk lancer" attempted and tested

[@bretalvarez3097]

Awesome video Matt

[@zerentheunskilled]

Matt, if I may make just the smallest quality of life suggestion for your videos, please shield your microphones from the wind. This can be as easy as placing a sheet of cloth to one side to catch the bulk of the wind from the camera microphone to using studio quality filters over them. No matter what, it'll help a lot. Cheers, and all the best no matter your choices. I'll still watch.

[@steretsjaaj2368]

Matt: Fight me fairly! Horse: Why should he? Matt: Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatoria here Matt your content is literally gold for us historical military heads

[@the_1or3]

Oh this topic ! Finally ! Thank you

[@LuxisAlukard]

That horse deserves it's own coat of arms!

[@adambielen8996]

Do you mean a comparison? The cloth coat that knightly steeds are usually shown wearing?

[@LuxisAlukard]

@@adambielen8996 OK, that too, but I mean real heater-shield shaped personal coat of arms. You know, maybe with picture of black horse on it? =)

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

It would be great if you guys could explore the differences between using a lance vs using a spear(possibly with the addition of a shield) from horseback against a footman. I'm asking because lances that were designed to break on impact and spear-like lances were used side by side for centuries. My take on it is that both offered some advantages and disadvantages in different scenarios.

[@shawn6860]

The spear most times did not have a guard or means to keep the weapon from sliding out his or her grip. That would be one difference.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

@@shawn6860 Yup, the other would be an option of using an overhand grip.

[@airnt]

15th century lances can be really long, 12-16 foot is pretty normal, there is an original lance of 467 cm, overhand spear use and two handed use of long lances is shown in the treatises. but the reach of a 16 foot lance is pretty huge and the lance feels much heavier in the hand, especially with a period weight head on it. (ca 150 grams) but you can absolutely fence with it still the 12 foot lances are a lot more nimble lances in later periods (napoleonic, or something) are often 250-310 cm long, which is a fair deal shorter and is more commonly held in the middle (or 2/3rds) of the shaft. this does really change the game.

[@bakters]

@@shawn6860 "or her" ;-)

[@shawn6860]

@@bakters I figure some poor peasant woamn at one time or a antother picked up a spear or pitch fork and sais "Oh ya? you wanna piece of this?" and stabbed the fool getting too close. lol!

[@rogerlafrance6355]

Attack and retreat or break thru the line both at speed leaving their lances stuck into the enemy was the goal. While some would go for the horseman, others would go for the horses legs in order to trip him with a spear or various snares even ropes. Often the goal was not to kill but, take the knight for ransom. Also, one way to disable a fallen knight it to lay a pole arm across his neck and you and a mate stand on each end. Still, it took a number of footmen to defeat a horseman.

[@paavohirn3728]

Definitely interested in the specific techniques as well!

[@Eulemunin]

Can’t wait for part two. Good context and great partners. But the Horse is best, it talks the least 🤣

[@hazelkingofrabbits]

Lovely horse, so affectionate, not a war horse at all. He seems to understand you, mostly, at other times puzzled, also understands his role and that it's a game, simulation. Fascinating how good natured and trusting our 4 legged friends are, despite us putting them in danger (historically)

[@sunnmringenriksheim7812]

I would love to see you Matt taking riding lessons and hear about how the experience was for you. Perhaps you eventually could ride a lesson in your armour!

[@roffels11-gamingandhistory69]

This is an awesome video! Thank you so much! Your content provides lots of valuable information I can use for my late 14th century infantryman representation. :D

[@leemcgann6470]

In regard to leg reining… a person on the ground could also give the horse conflicting commands by nudging the sides of the horse in some way. Making the horse think he has been given additional directional commands.

[@shawn6860]

4 Cavalrymen have already put their dislike in lol! Nice video, Matt. and I will look at Zach's channel. And give that horse an apple. Indy did a great job.

[@itsapittie]

LOL! I'm a cavalryman and I gave it a hearty thumbs up. Only a fool thinks his preferred weapon system (yes, the horse is part of the weapon system) has no disadvantages or will always prevail.

[@atrior7290]

A good one handed hit using Meyer quaterstaff technique with a spear on the horse's legs would be pretty effective I'd imagine. I own 3 horses and I must say the fragile part of their body is the legs.

[@survivethat2012]

Great Video as usual. I saw part two on Zac's channel. It would be interesting to learn how to offend a mounted Archer. So many armies used them. Thanks

[@99IronDuke]

A very lovely horse. Were not at least some medieval war horses trained to kick and bite the enemy? leaving aside highly disciplined infantry squares, that it was almost impossible to get horses to charge into, in the Sudan in 1898 when the 21st Lancers charged the Dervishes, the footmen often lay on the ground (a less good tactic against lancers) and cut at the horses bellies and legs with their spears and swords, while others cut at the reins and the riders. Men who were unhorsed did not fair well. One good thing about modern war is that horses are not really involved in it any more and I say that as a former soldier who likes horses.

[@madao7865]

I wish I got as many complements as this horse got from Matt.

[@simonbrooke4065]

Regarding grabbing the horseman's lance: if the footman drops his weapon, he has a much better chance of recovering it than the horseman has. So if you've crossed the horseman's lance with your pole weapon, and got one hand on his lance, it seems to me that a viable gambit would be to dump your own weapon, grab the lance with both hands, and continue round the horse clockwise as fast as you can. Biomechanically, if you can get far enough round, the horseman will have to let go the lance or fall off the horse. His defences are 1. to out-turn you (which, it he can, nullifies this attack, and may leave you at least temporarily with only your secondary weapon); or 2. accelerate away, in which case one of you is going to have to let go of the lance - but the footman now has both hands on it and the horseman only one. Best case is you're going to deprive the horseman of his pole weapon, which he's very unlikely to recover without dismounting, forcing him onto his secondary weapon while you now have two pole weapons available to you. If he accelerates away and you lose your grip on his lance, there's a good chance you can pick up your pole weapon before he has time to return, so you're back to status quo ante. If you grab anything other than the weapon and the horseman accelerates away, you're either going to have to let go or be pulled off your feet, in which case chances are you get trampled. The reins might be a good target except that puts you right in the right place to be attacked by his secondary weapon. The 'bayonet lunge' is probably better directed at the horse in a real situation. It's almost certainly much less armoured, it's much nearer to you, and any significant injury to the horse is likely to cause the horseman to lose control of it. Nasty though this is, either its throat or its stomach (whichever is nearer) is probably the right thing to go for - big, vital, non-bony targets. ...Bolognese sauces... Yes, Matt.

[@WhatIfBrigade]

The details on spear reach vs. the horse and rider is a big advantage.

[@chubbymoth5810]

Please more of this

[@frankharr9466]

O.K., to generalise a bit, If you have a similar reach to your opponent, go to their off-hand side to make them shorten that reach. If, on the other hand, you have a significantly shorter reach, go to their weapon-side to get a mechanical advantage. Fascinating!

[@ducklame]

Great video!

[@mikaelm6404]

More horses please! Matt you should get up to saddel list ones! I want to see how it goes!

[@TyLarson]

That looked like a lot if fun.

[@airnt]

love both videos, well done

[@lukediehl1210]

Interesting. Just last week, I was doing some reading, and I found an interesting account from the Battle of Arsuf. Granted, this could be sensationalizing a fallen commander, so as always, take with a grain of salt. There was a knight by the name of d'Avesnes, one of the French commanders, who was thrown from his horse during the battle. Allegedly, he cut down 15 enemy horsemen, while on foot, before he was overwhelmed. Possibly exaggerated, but still, it seems that well trained warriors were not helpless against cavalry.

[@manfredconnor3194]

Matt, when you cross the lance performing the manuever where you stated. "The treatise version is done with the other hand and foot leading . . . " Is that an inside move or an outside move? I would suspect it to be an outside move, but man, it could be hard to get outside fast enough with someone riding at you - eh?

[@dragonlancer1909]

more of this please!

[@juliahenriques210]

I'm in love with this horse. So calm, so docile, so beautiful. That's quite a tiny horse, though. A larger horse would dictate longer reaches and wider movements for positioning. On the subject of asking anything... Anything? Hmm... But what if the horse has wings? What are the implicattions to armour, movement, and air superiority?

[@alicelund147]

I think horses where smaller historically.

[@TheZinmo]

@@alicelund147 In antiquity and the early middle ages, yes. Not so from the high middle ages on. Those horses were pretty big. That goes for (western) europe, other peoples often preferred lighter infantry and had smaller horses for that (Mongols, Arabs, etc.)

[@alexh4436]

Could Zach demonstrate the Dothraki jump off the horse into a line of spears technique. That would be awesome.

[@antivalidisme5669]

Goodbye horses, I mean Zach!

[@athalwulf8267]

Can you do a video about sicilian stick fighting? What's your opinion about its fighting technique? What I found to be the most interesting thing, is the continous rotation of the stick

[@jamesduda6017]

Great video

[@qiangluo5537]

from my experience i know its not easy to hit the armoured horse. it was early 2000 the village simth trying to change horse shoes. and for some reason the horse got pisses. start to running kicking and jumping. the blacksmith and some farmers trying to stop it runing everywhere by jabing sticks and swing broom at it. but only to make it more crazy. i was so amazed by the horses agility to doge attacks while kicking stomping front and rear...while at the end they got the horse wangled down and no one got hurt.

[@erikjarandson5458]

I'd like to see some exploring of the great axe and the great sword against cavalry. It's a use where many think they may have had significant advantages, but, especially with the great axe, I haven't seen anyone comment with anything more than speculation.

[@stephenede-borrett1452]

Zach's ability to manoeuvre his lance would have been greatly restricted if he had a shield as mounted medieval cavalry often, even usually, did. PS despite modern illustrations the use of ECW bridle gauntlets was restricted almost entirely to officers - there is not a single example of its issue to common troopers (and that holds true right through to the 1680s)

[@chengkuoklee5734]

Matt should get Jason and Toby next time.

[@memyself637]

Matt mentioned waving something in front of the horse's face to cause it to shy away. Perhaps the horsehair tassel attached to the head socket on Chinese quiang (spear) would be useful for that.

[@nefasventures]

great video!

[@normtrooper4392]

I would love to see a follow up of Napoleonic cavalryman vs a soldier on foot

[@andreweden9405]

Whoa, Zach's sword is exquisite! Is that an Albion "Burgundian"?

[@grindsaur]

Excellent!

[@qiangluo5537]

16th century Chinese genreal Qi Jiguang said spear has little use against heavy cavalry charge. especially when facing barded heavy horse of mongol elite cavalry which they were trained to run into infantry spear instead of ride pass. spears often break when meet the barding and rarely killing the horse. and brace cavalry chargewith spears also required extreme displine. he encourage the use of mobile wagons, imported japanese/European firearm and twohanded swords to fight cavalry dominated mongol army. he stated using twohanded sword sweeping at horse legs that has been stopped or slowed down by the wagon; is much more effective than brace the impact with spears.

[@michelguevara151]

@35:35 this lunge is why the british SMLE bayonet drill included an extended single grip lunge, designed to defeat a mounted opponent. cavalry was still an issue in the first years of the great war.

[@sunshaker01]

Not sure how easy this would be to pull off but some kind of size comparison of the various types of cavalry horses. As the mounted knights got heavier armour the horses had to get bigger (as much as 4 hands/16" and 1400lbs) which lead to longer weapons (on both sides) and then the reverse when firearms came in and armour was worn less and speed for horses became more important than size. The size of the horse is going to change, to some extent, the techniques you use whether you are infantry or cavalry.

[@ModernKnight]

Most evidence we have suggests warhorses even from the late medieval period were usually around 15hh to 15.2hh, which is a modest sized horse by some modern standards. They were likely stallions though, and few people today ride stallions (I have several). They are much more powerful than geldings generally.

[@lynnettejalufka2682]

Thank you so much for this video! I am very interested in mounted combat. Indy appears to be a good representation of a medieval war horse. How tall is he? I am looking forward to future videos. I would like to see if the techniques change in a group or battlefield scenario. Also, was something used to protect the reins in combat from being cut? Other than the quintain and tournaments, what did a knight use to practice the lance and sword with his horse?

[@stephenwilhelm]

No constant stream of "good boy"? Not sure what I think about that.

[@carebear8762]

I see what you did there.

[@stoker1931jane]

We are all fans of Jason and his 👍🏻encouraging Horse talk.

[@leemcgann6470]

Very good!

[@vivianevans8323]

Very interesting video! And yes, Indy (spelling?) is a beautiful horse - but alas, if one's been used to watch Jason Kinglsey's horse videos then in a comparison his horses come out on top (naming no horse names ...)!

[@itsapittie]

Jason is essentially a professional horseman judging by his videos. I'd agree his horses are probably better prepared to participate in a medieval battle but I wouldn't feel screwed if I had to use this one. Rider and horse have obviously done a lot of work and deserve mad props.

[@vivianevans8323]

@@itsapittie Agreed - but Indy (this horse) is trained for jousting as his owner (in Zac's video) said. Generally, I was in no way trying to denigrate either Zac or this horse.- apologies if it came across like that - and I'm in awe of all of them who put os much time, hard work and effort into this work and into their videos.

[@ilari90]

Also, if you stab a horse with spear, and the horse has even some cloth on it, it might got stuck in the cloth and you need to ditch the spear if circling like that.

[@MtRevDr]

A spear that gets stuck to something on the horse is likely to obstruct or even hurt the horse in some way. The horse could get a bit mad. It could be a gamble how well trained the enemies' horses are.

[@stevenkobb156]

Indy is georgeous and so well behaved. If the horse has armour, it almost seems that quickly wheeling the horse about against the footman might be more effective than trying to defend with the lance. At full speed, a trained war horse should be able to knock a footman aside in less time than it takes for the horseman to bring his weaponto bear, making the horse itself your best weapon. Maybe you could address this in your next video. This could be demonstrated against a training dummy, but hard to do with a live person without risking injury (no, I'm not implying you should test it on a cadaver 🤣). We wouldn't want to squish Matt.