Cavalry Tactics - Riding and Fighting On Horseback

Riding and Fighting On Horseback

At first it was not considered effective to use weapons on horseback, but rather to use the horse as transport. "Mounted infantry" would ride to battle, and then dismount to fight. For a long time, riders and charioteers worked alongside each other in the cavalry.

The first recorded instance of mounted cavalry are the mounted archers of the Iranian tribes appearing in Assyrian records from the 9th century BC.

Mongolian troops had a Buryat bow, for showering the enemy with arrows from a safe distance. The aim on horseback was better than in a jiggling chariot, after it was discovered to shoot while all hooves of the horse were in the air. Nevertheless, an archer in a chariot could shoot potentially stronger infantry bows.

Javelins were employed as a powerful ranged weapon by many cavalries. They were easy to handle on horseback. Two to ten javelins would be carried, depending on their weight. Thrown javelins have less range than composite bows, but often prevailed in use nevertheless. Due to the mass of the weapon there was a greater armor-piercing ability and they thus caused fatal wounds more frequently. Usage is reported for both light and heavy cavalry, for example by Numidia and the Mongol's light cavalry or the heavy cataphracts, Celtic cavalry and the Mamluks during the Crusades. Celtic horsemen training was copied by the Roman equites. A significant element learned from the Celts was turning on horseback to throw javelins backwards, similar to the Parthian shot in archery.

Early saddles had no abdominal belt, nor were they high enough to charge safely with full force. The sarissae, lances and more often spears of cavalry were therefore used as thrusting and cutting weapon with a limited jolt. Stirrups and spurs improved the ability of riders to act fast and secure in melées and manoeuvres demanding agility of the horse. But their employment was not unquestioned. Agile movement of the rider on horseback was highly esteemed for light cavalry to shoot and fight in all directions. Contemporaries regarded stirrups and spurs as inhibiting for this purpose. Andalusian light cavalry refused to employ them till the 12th century, nor were they used by the Baltic turcopoles of the Teutonic order in the battle of Legnica(1241).

An outstanding example of combined arms and efficiency of cavalry forces were the medieval Mongols. Important for their horse archery was the use of stirrups for the archer to stand while shooting. This new position enabled them to use larger and stronger cavalry bows than the enemy.