Atrayu

Okay so, I write casually in my free time. Usually medieval fantasy. There are generally horses in the story somewhere. I always find myself wondering random things like... how fast can a horse run? How long can it run at top speed before needing to rest? What happens if it isn't rested and is made to continue running?

Questions like this plague me, especially since I really don't want to buy a whole book on horses just to get these simple answers. heh. Anyone have any helpful info for me regarding these questions?

Thanks.

alexis

Very interesting that you write about horses and I figure this is a good place to get some answers. I am not sure for top speeds as some will run faster and longer durations than others. Can you narrow it down abit by chance?

Atrayu

Heh. Not really. I'm really just looking for a general average. I assume there will be differences based on breed, size, specific stamina of the horse.. etc. But most of that won't go into the book. I might mention the breed of the horse, but being that's it's fantasy I may just blur over that part. I just want to get a basic idea of these thing so I don't grossly over-estimate the facts and have a horse run for a week without stopping.

Buckskin

A thoroughbred sprinting is approximately 45 km/h, but that's with a jockey weighing only about 50kg. A muscular knight in armour is going to weigh a lot more, and I think the thoroughbreds only sprint for two or three minutes.

Cross country horses are expected to be traveling at a minimum of 20km per hour on average in many races, and that can go for hours, with a few breaks in between for vet checks, with much heavier riders and tack. They're nearly never thoroughbreds though.

I hope that helps a little.

__________________
Got carrots?

dappledear

I'm assuming your horses would be carrying a knight in full armor perhaps? This would require a thicker draftish mount to support their weight. As you might guess this means they are not as stamina or speed capable as other breeds would be. Even without stopping much just to drink or eat a horse could conceivable be on the move for days on end without too much effort. Maybe not at a full run, but you're most likely not going to be able to keep that speed unless in an open area the whole time. Trees and windy paths make for some harder riding. If you were to run a horse full for a week, even with water and food stops it would most likely drop from exhaustion.

Atrayu

Thanks for the info everyone. It helps.

Who is riding the horse depends on which part of the story, I guess. I'm not strictly a knights and english-medieval writer, but I imagine there will at times be fully armored soldiers on the horses. So as long as I know the values for fully loaded and a light rider, I can kind of guesstimate something in the middle.

Snap

Another thing you might want to look up is the dungeons & dragons roleplaying game rules for horse travel, how much they can carry and how it reduces their speed. They've put a lot of effort into trying to make that 'realistic', and so have done most of the maths for you.

Atrayu

Hey.. that's a great tip. Thanks. I hadn't even thought of checking D&D rules.