Marginalia

Medieval warhorses were the size of modern-day ponies

Medieval warhorses are often depicted as massive and powerful beasts, but in reality many were no more than pony-sized by modern standards, a new study shows.

Horses during the period were often below 14.2 hands high (1.47 metres), but size was clearly not everything, as historical records indicate huge sums were spent on developing and maintaining networks for the breeding, training, and keeping of horses used in combat.

A team of archaeologists and historians searching for the truth about warhorses has found they were not always bred for size, but for success in a wide range of different functions – including tournaments and long-distance raiding campaigns. The researchers analysed English horse bones dating between AD 300 and 1650, found at 171 separate archaeological sites. The study, published in the , shows that breeding and training of warhorses was influenced by a combination of biological and cultural factors, as well as behavioural characteristics of the horses themselves such as