This is a general thread to discuss all things related to horses - care, science, personality, etc. If you need help making sure the portrayal of horses in your story is realistic, post your questions here! Hopefully we'll get the horse geeks in here to help us out.

I have two questions to start. In one of my books, a character creates a distraction by inciting someone's horse to whinny and bolt out of the yard. How realistic is this? What should the character do the horse to get it to run? Right now I have him doing the classic slap the horse on the flanks. If it makes a difference, the character would be a stranger to the horse.

Second, what might incite a horse to throw its rider? Does it make a difference whether the horse is familiar with its rider, or if the rider is a stranger? Will some horses shy from nearby gunshot if they are not trained to deal with such sounds?

Thanks, guys! Join in and discuss! I know a lot of you love these majestic creatures...

It really, really depends on the horse. That's what a lot of people don't understand -- horses are all very different.

For some horses, that could work. For others it wouldn't budge them. Others, if they're jittery, they might run off if someone simply walks up behind them. It doesn't make any difference whether the horse knows the person or not, a horse can't see behind it well, which is why you don't walk up behind one, it's likely to kick you.


Again, it depends. Some horses are gunshy, yes. The only time I've been thrown is when my horse saw a snake and shied back. If a horse is frightened it's very likely to throw whoever is on its back. If the rider is a stranger and is unkind, some horses might be inclined to throw the rider just because they don't like him.

I'll keep an eye on this thread!

Yay! One of the horse experts found my thread! Thank you so much, Gracie - that was incredibly helpful.

So it is possible for a horse to be frightened into running by being slapped? This horse only appears in one scene, so I don't need to develop its personality. As long as a slap on the flanks is plausible, I can leave it.

Now I didn't think about wild animals. That might work very well, because the horse will be out in the woods or the country roads when he throws his rider. He'll be in a group with other horses, but perhaps I can say that the group startled something out of the bushes. I've considered putting the rider on an unfamiliar horse (his usual horse was out of commission for some reason), just to make it more realistic.

Thank you again!

As long as the person has the strength to make it a really hard slap, and it's a surprise to the horse, I think you're good. That can be hard though -- I don't think I could slap Pioneer's flanks hard enough that he'd even notice! That's a bit of an exaggeration, but horses are pretty solid. However again, it depends on the horse, and if it's a man, he could probably manage a good slap.

Unfortunately I am dealing with an extremely short and "wimpy" teenage boy (he's barely 5'...), but I think I can make it work. In the current draft he slaps her twice because he didn't do it hard enough the first time.

If the horse is a skittish horse that would work, Aubrey. My sister looked after a TB for some time, and if that saw a movement out of the corner of it's eye (it's blanket blew in the wind slightly one time) it would bolt, kick and run away. I personally would think that unless is it a really skittish horse slapping it wouldn't work, it would make it walk off yes, but not bolt I don't think.

*nods* Thanks for the help! I think I'll be okay. As long as it's plausible, I can say that it was a skittish horse and call it good.

Elanor's right, a skittish horse will bolt as you so much as move.

Like everyone else is saying, it often depends on the horse. If it's of a fairly calm breed, and doesn't have very complicated tasks, i.e. a pony club horse, trail riding horse, etc. they wouldn't try to throw a rider unless the rider was being particularly unpleasant.

However, the horse I once had had been spelled for a few weeks, and it became spiteful and mean and threw me off viciously the next time I rode it, so... Sometimes one can never tell about horses!

As for your getting thrown question... That would depend on the rider's horsemanship and how attentive he was being to his horse. If you're a good rider, you can normally keep your seat even if a horse spooks and if you're used to it, you can even ride out a rear or two and quite possibly some bucking. If the rider is caught by surprise, then I'd say he could be thrown. Would probably have to be a skittish horse though to freak out enough to warrent throwing something. Normally you can keep a horse in check even if they get a few fleeing steps in (or even a few hundred, sometimes it's best to let them run their fear out a bit and then slow them down).

And as for the spooking the horse out of the stable, I'm sure there are lots of things the boy could use to scare the horse with. Normally a nice, loud and sudden sound can help if the slapping doesn't work. Or "kissing" (if you know what sound I'm talking about) along with a slap can get them moving (that's what I'll do with the horses at home some times to make them move) Another simple way, if your arm isn't strong enough for slapping to work, grab a rope and swing it toward their hindquarters (while kissing) and if need be, you can smack them with the rope's end. And there's the age old, run at them yelling and wave your arms (which helps with if you're wearing something white... mainly because horses can see white easily and so they'll pay quick attention to anything white, especially if it's coming running at them )

I have a question about horses. How far of a distance is it realistic for them to cover in a day?

Ooh, I second that. =D

That was unbelievably helpful, Nkyaela! I think in both cases I'll be able to work out a scenario that's realistic. Thank you!

Oh! A question I can answer.

Willow, according to my research a horse can travel 30 miles in a day comfortably. 40-50 miles to a ragged, half-dead state.

So would 35-40 miles a day be reasonably for someone who's pushing their horse hard?

Here's another question I've always wondered... Because I'm an essence writer, I usually gauge distances by essence. Meaning, I know that it takes about 2 hours on horseback to get from here to there, but I don't know how many miles that is.

So, with a well-rested horse going at a moderate pace (what pace would a horse use for a longer trek?), about how many miles can a horse cover in an hour?

I think it honestly depends on the terrain. For example, if the journey is mountainous or hilly or forest or swampy. Any obstacle would slow them down considerably. What kind of terrain are you forcing this poor horse to go through?



I'm really not sure how many miles it could cover in an hour (if I ever get a horse I'll time our ride and let you know. ) but I do know that a moderate pace for a long trek would be at a walk and a trot. Perhaps a good canter up a steep hill, but that would completely depend on if it's carrying a rider or pulling something much heavier.

Oh, well. Hope that helped!

Yes, that helped. I knew there were a lot of different horse paces, but I can never keep the terms straight. While there's some flexibility in what term you can use in the narrative, I think, just from a creative writing standpoint, I like to know what range I'm going for. Thank you!

(New favorite thread!)

I rode for an hour today and covered about 4.3 miles. That was walking/trotting through woodsy, rocky hills for about a quarter of the time, and then walking/trotting/cantering along the side of the road the rest of the time. If you were riding in an open, relatively flat place, you could probably get closer to five or six miles in an hour at a moderate walk and trot. Riding in hills, on rocky terrain, or in a heavily forested area could slow you down to two or three miles in an hour.

Riding through the woods, you have to take it slow to get over logs and avoid getting walked into tree branches. *rubs forehead* You have to walk slowly down hills, too, especially if the ground is slippery. Like Celestria said, horses like to go faster up hills. Trotting or cantering helps them gain momentum.

I think so. Endurance riders ride up to 50 miles in a day, but that's usually a one-day event. I don't think you could push an average horse like that for more than a day or two.

One thing to note is that horses that are getting brushed down, watered, well-fed, and stabled every night will do much better on day-long rides than a horse that's living out on the trail with nothing but grass or weeds to eat for days. Just something to remember when you're writing multiple-day horseback journeys.

(Thanks for poking me towards this thread, Kaitianna. )

Hrm. Very interesting So if a horse were on a multiple-day journey their range would decrease the longer they go without top-notch care?

Andrew

Thou art awesome, my dear Evening! That was so amazingly helpful.

That was extremely helpful to me, too.

Just for clarification: it would be highly unrealistic to expect horses to canter for the better part of the day, even on relatively flat ground?

Most likely, yes. They wouldn't need top-notch care, exactly...food and water are the most important, then rest. But yes, if they went without proper care, their endurance would wear down.


Correct.

I'm glad y'all found it helpful. Thank Lia; she did most of the work.

Thank you for that, Eve! Very interesting.

I echo Elanor--very interesting and very helpful. *goes to revise horseback portions of story*

I have a slight modification to what I said earlier about a horse's endurance wearing down if they weren't getting good feed...I talked to my aunt (well, she's not really my aunt, but she's a very close family friend) who used to compete in endurance racing, and she said that if a horse had access to decent grass and forage along a journey, the horse could last a pretty long time. The horse would really only be in trouble if it was on a longer trip in the middle of summer or something when all the grass was dry and inedible.

Sorry about getting my information wrong. I hope I didn't mess anyone up.

Thanks so much for clarifying, Evening! That's extremely helpful.

You're welcome.

Nice piece of info, Wren. Thank you.

So, what if a horse were well-fed, but then were taken across sparse land for, say, a day or two? Would they still be able to keep up the distance because they'd been generally well-fed up until then? Or would the poor quality of the food during the journey affect them quickly?

Andrew

I love this thread! I don't have anything to add to it, but this will be very useful when I write horses eventually, both in fantasy and historical fiction. Thanks everyone!

So, another question for the horse fanatics... What are the typical duties of a groomsman or stable hand? I have a young man in one of my books who works in the stables (circa 1780), and I'm wondering what kind of jobs I should depict him as doing. I haven't decided for sure how many horses there are, or if he has any help, but I am thinking there will only be a few horses and he will be working mostly single-handedly. The stables serve a mine, which is manned by prisoners, so I figure we have a few nice riding/carriage horses and maybe some work horses for the mines (I have to research that). What kind of jobs will my character be doing, and how much of his day will that likely take up? (i.e., is this a full-time job or a part-time job?)

As a groomsman, he would probably be taking someone's horse when they arrived and unsaddling it and brushing it down, as well as feeding and watering it. He would also have some experience in doctoring minor injuries or sicknesses.

*nods* That wouldn't be a working-all-day job then, would it?

Right. Doubtless he'd have plenty of time on his hands when he wasn't cleaning stalls.

Good. I think that would work well for my plot, then... Thank you!

No problemo! I'm glad I could help.

HORSES!!! YES!!!

Horses are my complete hobby, I want to go to rodeo college.
I love galloping on horses, it makes me feel very free.

*is back for more horse assistance*

I'm working out specific distances for Peter's Angel, and I want to check my numbers with y'all. The distance from Providence, RI to Boston, MS is approximately 50 miles. Going on the well-traveled roads (I'm assuming there would be some in the old days since those were both major cities), that's about 10 hours of riding, correct? Which would be done in a day, especially if you change out horses, right?

Evening wrote two excellent horse posts for the Holy Worlds blog:

Writing Horses

Writing Horses II