mickmca opened this issue on Aug 02, 2007 · 35 posts
freyfaxi posted Sun, 09 September 2007 at 4:42 PM
Sorry - been a while since I posted here. What I was trying to say in my earlier post was that if you want a REAL medieval Destrier..that TODAY's friesian breed is probably reasonably close..but it's NOT a destrier. THAT 'breed' (if it ever WAS a specific breed, and not a 'type'" ) is now extinct . Horse breeders back then didn't waste their time breeding horses that no-one was using any more....the breeders swapped into breeding heavier horses for agricultural and haulage work..that is where our MODERN "Draft" breedsa came from.
As far as models go..I have all the models mentioned, Bloodsong's, Charger, MilHorse and the basic P4 horse. I still prefer Charger..to me he looks basicly 'correct' for a typical early medieval war horse. And don't forget..the "'classic medieval" period went from about 1100-1450..a pretty long timespan. Are you after a horse to carry a norman/first crusade knight..or one from later..when full plate armour ws the fashion ? As armour increased in weight..so the 'destrier' was 'beefed up' to carry the extra weight. So..to define a 'typical;' destrier..you first need to determine the period you want. My interest is in the earlier medieval period..so I look for a horse for that period.