• Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    I just want to point out how ungodly big that horse is. Assuming this is a normal sized man and not some very dashing midget. He stands about the same height as the horse’s withers. This would put the horse at about 18 hands. That fucking huge.

    For reference hear is a picture of a 18.2 hand horse. I do not know how tall the man is

    And here is a 19.2 hand horse the man is 6"

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      • Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Honest you don’t, horses this large are draft horses. The are generally used to pull not ride. They can be trained to ride but they aren’t very easy or comfortable.

        The larges horse I have mounted from the ground is 16 or 17 hands. (There are 4in in a hand). I ride western so our stirrup is longer. If you were were riding English you would need a mounting block.

        Obviously this is intended to be a war horse. Something that doesn’t really exist anymore. If we look at the breeds that are descended from war horse it would be stocky but not muscle bound about 16/17 hands. War horses had to very strong, armored knights are heavy. Just as importantly the had to be nimble and quick. The bigger the horse the less nimble it is.

        To other things to note in the picture. The horse has spats. That is the term for the long hair you see covering the hoofs. Generally only draft horses have this feature. I do not know if it would have been more commonly in the times of knights. Regardless I could see it being common to cut them on war horse. They get full of mud and battle fields tend to be very muddy.

        The second thing is the way the horse is collected. The arch in its neck making the nose point down. It is impossible for most horses to be that collected and extra impossible for a horse of this side to collect like that.

        Lastly that horses is currently falling over. You can see both right legs are not touching the ground. Clearly the horse and the rider don’t know this yet. In a few milliseconds they will know.

        Am I over analyzing a drawing of a horse. Yes, yes I am.

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