A question..

[Arninquelote]

A question related to amoury..wasn't sure where to post it.

I was watching TTT and the scene at Helm's Deep when the Rohirrim charge to the aid of Theoden, and it occurred to me that the horses were a bit lightweight to carry men in full armour. Looking back in history, warhorses have always been large, Shire/Flanders breeds, bred that way to withstand the rigours of battle and to take the strain of carrying a knight in armour. The horses used in FOTR and TTT have all been of arab/thoroughbred stock, but wouldn't have been suitable for battle use as depicted in the films. Do you think using warhorses would have given these scenes more artistic impact and credibility?

[Steve the Great]

Although I'm not a horse (and armour) expert at all lol, I tried to collect some information about war horses and armours. (I've found a page (http://www2.truman.edu/~capter/jins343/medi.htm) with great pics of war horses...)
I think you're right that the real war horses of medieval knights were much heavier and stronger than the ones used by the rohirrim in TTT.
But the rohirrim were not "real" knights. They weared much lighter armour. I've searched through some armoury catalogues (e.g. Arms of Valor), and found that a long "ringmail" weights about 50-60lbs but the weight of a full platemail is about 110-130lbs (additionally the horses carried some armour: the ones of rohirrim made of leather, the medieval horse armour made of steel. I think that the whole medieval equipment -e.g. weapons- was much heavier).
So I think it's not a serious mistake of PJ in case of the rohirrim...

[Catz]

that would only apply to full plate armour..........in the case of the Rohirrim, lightness and quickness would have been more important, given that their major weapon was the spear....and in the movie, the rohirrm did not wear plate...........also the medieval "great horse" wasnt as big as you might assume....people were much smaller then.....in that period an average height of just over 5 feet was normal
:catz:

[Orc]

The plate mail weights you are quoting were more for tournament use, where safety was of the paramount concern. Plate worn on campaign or into battle was more along the lines of about 60-70lbs.

[Arninquelote]

Thanks for the info Steve and Orc. :grin: Yes, you're right Catz, the Rohirrim were less heavily equipped for reasons of speed and flexibility, but I still think the combined weight of weaponry, mail, plate, and horse armour most have added up to a considerable strain over the long distances the Rohirrim travelled. Even the crusaders, who travelled light because of the sandy terrain they covered, had big horses. I'd have loved to have seen at least a few thundering warhorses charging into the affray at Helm's Deep, as it would have been even more spectacular. :grin: