How did knights train horses to charge into a bunch or infantry or other cavalry and not be afraid?
(origional article should be linked ^)It’s hilarious because some people have a problem getting their horse into a transport when in the ancient ages they pulled chariots into battle and in the medieval ages knights used them to charge into battle all that with arrows flying everywhere and catapults going off and everything.
The same way anyone PROPERLY trains a horse to do anything. By gradually getting them used to something that’d normally spook them, make them get that it’s not something bad, and reward them. Over _2000_ years ago the ancient Greek cavalry leader Xenophon wrote the earliest book on horses and said, "The one great precept and practice in using a horse is this – never deal with him when you are in a fit of passion. When your horse shies at an object and is unwilling to go up to it, he should be shown that there is nothing fearful in it, least of all to a courageous horse like him; but if this fails, touch the object yourself that seems so dreadful to him, and lead him up to it with gentleness. Compulsion and blows inspire only the more fear; and when horses are at all hurt at such times, they think what they shied at is the cause of the hurt." Xenophon also credited an earlier horse expert named Simon, so he wasn’t the first person to come up with this kind of training.
Sure, there have also been people who beat the crap out of their horses and treat them like machines. Unfortunately, there’s always been a good number of brain-donors in the world. I’m only an intermediate rider, but don’t suggest a battle of wills with an often unpredictable half-ton animal unless you want a horse that IS afraid of his/her own shadow, waiting to pitch you into the dirt, crazy, just plain mean, or any combination of these.
FWIW, I’ve heard of people getting "difficult" horses onto trailers armed with nothing more than oats and a little patience.
