Realistic horses?

[Ron Tamburrini]

At the height of the french first empire heavy cavalry were mounted on horses 18 hands , light on 14

 

[rossbach]

At the height of the french first empire heavy cavalry were mounted on horses 18 hands , light on 14

That's what army regulations, theoretically, stipulated on paper.

As to how these requirements were actually met in the field is a different story. Perhaps at the beginning of a campaign cavalry units ideally would meet official requirements in terms of quantity and quality. But as a campaign developed it often became a different story.

Campaigns even in those days were costly affairs. Logistic lines tended to become overstretched. Replacing losses became increasingly difficult. Often quatermasters had to resort to what was locally available. Inevitably the quality of horses dropped the longer a campaing lasted. Even finding sufficient fodder for the horses more often then not became a nightmare.

It was not just replacing and feeding cavalry horses that caused headaches for those responsible. In order to be able to move itself from a to b an avarage army with a total strength of say 30.000 men needed almost double that number in horses solely for traction purposes . Not counting the specific quantative cavalry requirements needed to keep cavalry units operational that is.

During the Ancien Régime as well as the 19th century this pattern repeated itself over and over again. After a while even heavy cavalry would no longer be able to meet the official army requirements regarding the sizes of their horses.

So it cannot be ruled out that at some point during a campaign even Napoleons glorious cuirassiers would have had to make do with undersized old nags . That is to say: if they had any horses left to ride at all. Because sometimes the men had to eat them in order to survive

 

[blaster]

The discussion on realistic horses seems to have gone the same way as scale - 54mm vs 1/32 scale etc where photos of very tall and short people are shown to justify scale exactitude. I think that plausibility is the real point here. Unless it is an exact photo (without photoshop), any scale model has to look plausible to be universally accepted as being in scale.

Rgds Victor

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

That's what army regulations, theoretically, stipulated on paper.

As to how these requirements were actually met in the field is a different story. Perhaps at the beginning of a campaign cavalry units ideally would meet official requirements in terms of quantity and quality. But as a campaign developed it often became a different story.

Campaigns even in those days were costly affairs. Logistic lines tended to become overstretched. Replacing losses became increasingly difficult. Often quatermasters had to resort to what was locally available. Inevitably the quality of horses dropped the longer a campaing lasted. Even finding sufficient fodder for the horses more often then not became a nightmare.

It was not just replacing and feeding cavalry horses that caused headaches for those responsible. In order to be able to move itself from a to b an avarage army with a total strength of say 30.000 men needed almost double that number in horses solely for traction purposes . Not counting the specific quantative cavalry requirements needed to keep cavalry units operational that is.

During the Ancien Régime as well as the 19th century this pattern repeated itself over and over again. After a while even heavy cavalry would no longer be able to meet the official army requirements regarding the sizes of their horses.

So it cannot be ruled out that at some point during a campaign even Napoleons glorious cuirassiers would have had to make do with undersized old nags . That is to say: if they had any horses left to ride at all. Because sometimes the men had to eat them in order to survive

The memoirs of general Marbot will give you the best insight to the state and procurement of mounts for Napoleonic cavalry and how they worked and performed .

 

[billyturnip]

The discussion on realistic horses seems to have gone the same way as scale - 54mm vs 1/32 scale etc where photos of very tall and short people are shown to justify scale exactitude. I think that plausibility is the real point here. Unless it is an exact photo (without photoshop), any scale model has to look plausible to be universally accepted as being in scale.

Rgds Victor

I agree Victor, I used those photo's to illustrate that artistic licence, ie. good looking gym frequenting blokes on thoroughbred horses is much more pleasing on the eye than what in some cases is the reality.

 

[blaster]

Hello Roger,



Rgds Victor

 

[billyturnip]

Hello Roger,

Rgds Victor

Hello Victor. ​

 

[blaster]

Hello Victor. ​

Hello Roger,
Between you and me, we appeared to have relished some very satisfactory dish....?
Vic

 

[billyturnip]

It's still an interesting topic which I am sure will resurface again at some point.

 

[blaster]

The girl or the horse?....

 

[rossbach]

The memoirs of general Marbot will give you the best insight to the state and procurement of mounts for Napoleonic cavalry and how they worked and performed .

Thanks!

 

[billyturnip]

The girl or the horse?....

Nothing beats a pretty girl on a horse Victor.
(As long as they are the correct scale of course. Nobody wants to see a big fat Boudicca on a Shetland pony, that would be just wrong.)