Supply of horses in Europe BCE

[Ian61]

In dark age and medieval times we know that warriors/knights sometimes fought on foot. Neither the classical Greeks or Romans were known for their horse riding skills so were often 'out cavalried' if I can use such a phrase. The question I have is, Were there enough horses for all those wishing to fight mounted? Did, for example, the Numidians or Thracians take so many horses that supply was not a problem. That is did every fighter have a string of horses or did they end up fighting on foot after a long campaign?

[Jim Webster]

I think 'it depends'
During the first crusade I think there was a shortage of horses for knights.
Some Numidians had multiple horses, but not all.

[Keraunos]

Not so much the supply of horses as what cavalrymen did when they got into combat, but Bret Devereux (and others?) make the argument that at Cannae the numerically superior Spanish and Gallic horsemen on Hannibal's left dismounted in the narrow space available and used their weight of numbers to defeat the Roman right wing cavalry who were also on foot.   

[DBS]

An interesting question.  There is of course Pausanias' "trimarkisia", which he attributes to the Celts - one cavalryman, two servants on spare horses.  Whether accurate, or remotely universal amongst "Celts" is another matter.

There is also the circumstantial evidence of the culturally Scythian grave goods found in the Balkan river valleys leading down to the north-eastern shores of the Adriatic, which has led to (in my view plausible) hypotheses that Scythians, or tribes heavily influenced by Scythians, may have been exporting horses bred on the Hungarian plain to Italy and further afield.

The Romans and Greeks may not have been noted for their cavalry arm, but they were certainly well placed in organisation to supply their limited numbers of equites/hippeis with horses.  Equites were supposedly assigned "public" horses from an early date if the annalists are to be believed - note Livy's story about volunteer cavalry who had supplied their own horse being fielded alongside the equites vs Veii circa 403BC.

Hannibal will presumably have lost a lot of horses getting to Italy.  He of course gets Celtic horsemen who bring their own mounts, and his string of early victories probably help by getting a sizeable number of Roman public horses...  Of course, he spends a lot of the later years down in southern Italy, where there seems to have been more of a horse-owning culture, so again may have been able to keep his cavalry mounted without excessive difficulty.

Celts and Germans?  Fine when at home, probably rarely campaigning very far, not stressing/starving the horses (consider Livy's account of the Metaurus when Hasdrubal supposedly realises that Claudius Nero's army has arrived because of different shields and noticeably lean horses that have obviously been on a long march).  Tribes probably not fighting in large numbers or continuously, so if a horse is lost in a skirmish or raid, not too difficult to replace either from booty or once one has walked home.

Freebooting Celts and Germans?  Probably depends on availability of loot.  It is perhaps noteworthy that mention of early Celtic mercenary bands seem to be largely/exclusively infantry.  Is this because the whole point of being a freebooter/mercenary is that you do not have the wealth to be a noble cavalryman?  You do not have the settled infrastructure of a nice farm to support horses year-round?  Or that a horse is simply incompatible with the roving life, all too fragile and expensive to maintain?

That said, never forget the wise words of a former military colleague of mine, a hard-core truckie officer: "A third-class ride beats a first-class walk every time."

[Ian61]

Thanks all for the above responses. Sort of what I expected but nice to know I was thinking on the right lines anyway. I did not know that detail about dismounted riders at Cannae that Kim mentions, I must look at that. And thanks David for such a good potted overview, lots of good points there. I have read bits about the Crusades and they did seem to require a lot of horses at that period.

[Erpingham]

I have read bits about the Crusades and they did seem to require a lot of horses at that period.

Medieval warfare was heavy on horse use but also attrition. But they had extensive breeding studs, regional horsefairs and an international horse trade.  I've no idea what the supply side looked like in Antiquity though.

[Jim Webster]

I have read bits about the Crusades and they did seem to require a lot of horses at that period.

Medieval warfare was heavy on horse use but also attrition. But they had extensive breeding studs, regional horsefairs and an international horse trade.  I've no idea what the supply side looked like in Antiquity though.

I did an article in Slingshot about the supply of horses from Carolingian horse farms. I wrote it early in 2020 but don't know when it went in the magazine

[Nick Harbud]

Suggestions for further reading...

• Karen Dixon & Pat Southern, "The Roman Cavalry"
• Various papers in "The Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades" Ed. John Pryor

[Erpingham]

Klecel, W·Martyniuk, E :From the Eurasian Steppes to the Roman Circuses: A Review of Early Development of Horse Breeding and Management.   

A potentially interesting (quite wide ranging but not massively detailed) study

[Adrian Nayler]

I did an article in Slingshot about the supply of horses from Carolingian horse farms. I wrote it early in 2020 but don't know when it went in the magazine

I had a quick look but I could not find your article Jim. It's entirely possible that I missed it but do you think it was actually published? Potentially, it might be residing in a misplaced editorial reserve given all the disruption to Slingshot in 2020-21.

[Imperial Dave]

Ill have a look myself after

[PhilM]

'Equus: the horse in the Roman world' by Ann Hyland covers some of this. If I recall, Ann Hyland is a horse breeder as well as a historian, so it's a different perspective than usually found in more academic works. Probably works better in conjunction with other sources rather than as a single, authoritative textbook.

[Adrian Nayler]

I did an article in Slingshot about the supply of horses from Carolingian horse farms. I wrote it early in 2020 but don't know when it went in the magazine

I had a quick look but I could not find your article Jim. It's entirely possible that I missed it but do you think it was actually published?

My carelessness caused me to miss Jim's article "Providing Your Warhorses" which was published in Slingshot 329 (March/April 2020). Sorry about that.