Does anyone even breed actual war horses anymore? When was the last time cavalry saw combat as part of a regular army, WWI?
It might literally require generations to raise enough and train them to field a functional cavalry regiment. Are there even people living today who know how to train horses for battlefield conditions?
Can’t imagine no one is doing it unless it’s dangerous to the horse and explicitly forbidden by law. People still train carrier pigeons and scouting hawks
Well training a horse for the battlefield usually involves exposing them to explosions and fires and generally the sights, sounds and smells of a military operation… it’s possible to train a horse to stand still during an artillery barrage, but they’re prey animals, their primary defense is running away from anything scary. Getting them to not panic and bolt goes against their entire evolutionary development. I kind of doubt anyone is putting the time and effort into training horses for that today.
Stunt horses? I remember a poster saying something along those lines, in regard to historical military horses, that there are breeds today which are still bred to be less skittish around such things.
Does anyone even breed actual war horses anymore? When was the last time cavalry saw combat as part of a regular army, WWI?
It might literally require generations to raise enough and train them to field a functional cavalry regiment. Are there even people living today who know how to train horses for battlefield conditions?
Can’t imagine no one is doing it unless it’s dangerous to the horse and explicitly forbidden by law. People still train carrier pigeons and scouting hawks
Well training a horse for the battlefield usually involves exposing them to explosions and fires and generally the sights, sounds and smells of a military operation… it’s possible to train a horse to stand still during an artillery barrage, but they’re prey animals, their primary defense is running away from anything scary. Getting them to not panic and bolt goes against their entire evolutionary development. I kind of doubt anyone is putting the time and effort into training horses for that today.
Stunt horses? I remember a poster saying something along those lines, in regard to historical military horses, that there are breeds today which are still bred to be less skittish around such things.
I don’t know about war horses but the RCMP breed police horses and that could at least be a starting point.