Herald of Steel

The concept of armoring one’s horse was called barding and in Alexander’s past life history, the practice was thought to have been first extensively developed in antiquity in the eastern kingdoms of Parthia, which was in modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

Meanwhile, in this time period, this had yet to be introduced as though they would dress their horse in colorful clothes, as Amenheraft did with his horse in a start golden color, but the concept of fully armoring one’s horse with leather or fabric had yet to be introduced.

Thus a typical Adhanian cavalry unit would consist of only light cavalry, being recruited exclusively from noble families or those related to him somehow, either by kinship, peerage or by land.

This was both because it was a political statement to let only the blue blood ride horses into battle, but also because it was very expensive to own and maintain a horse.

So Adhanian cavalry would consist of nobles, his sons, uncles, brothers, etc, the sons of a lesser nobleman who would be tasked with looking after the horses similar to a knight’s squire, and lastly, slaves or peasants who had good relations with their masters and be allowed to practice riding horses and then could contribute in battle.

These riders would charge into battle wearing both functional and decorative equipment, with the higher one’s peerage, usually the flashier one’s horse being.

Among the functional equipment, a cavalry would firstly wear a soft kit which they would wear under their armor, consisting of a tunic, trousers (which reached to just below the knee and were worn to avoid chafing when sitting on the horse), a scarf, a belt, socks, and boots.

Next would be the armor, which was just infantry armor, a simple bronze cuirass, and a helmet.

And it was among the helmets that one applied decorative embellishments to show off one’s status.

Cavalry helmets would often be elaborately decorated with plum feathers, cheek pieces and some even wore helmets with a face plate over their own face, as a way to frighten the enemy, while many cavalrymen wore highly decorated leg greaves.

In terms of weapons, cavalry soldiers spent many long hours practicing how to throw javelins accurately when riding at speed, while very few skilled units also used bows and arrows to engage the enemy at a distance.

When the soldiers got closer to the enemy, they would switch to using long spears, like the infantry, which was not an easy weapon to maneuver when on horseback, and trying to keep the jittery horse steady while also making sure that not only him but also the beast does not get stabbed.

And to accomplish all this, the one advantage the men had was the height advantage, with the cavalrymen able to thrust downward at the infantry.

Alexander imagined at least one of these men had said, “It’s over. I have the high ground!”

Some cavalry also carried a long slashing sword which they would draw if their spear broke or was lost, though they had to take care not to hit their horse’s head when wielding it.

And lastly, they all carried the all-important, omnipresent battlefield equipment- the shield, being a smaller, oval-shaped version the infantry carried.

This was what the men wore, but there was still the horse to equip.

Horses would have a saddle, bridles, and straps to aid the rider, which also provided one opportunity to add fancy decoration, such as shiny metal mounts and pendants, and many times even religious symbolism.

First, there was the saddle, with the basic structure being a wooden frame with a leather covering, and it was customary that a saddle cloth, usually with a decorative fringe, be placed under the saddle, right over the horse’s skin.

Then there the four horns at each corner which would be stiffened by metal plates to help give the rider a solid base to control the horse, as stirrups had not been invented yet.

And all these would be held in place by breast and haunch straps as well as the girth.

Then there was the bridle which was connected to the horse harness worn on the head on one hand and to the reins held by the rider by the other.

This bridle was the iron or bronze bit in the mouth of the horse, which was used to control the horse.

And some of the bits used were quite cruel, as it was more important to a cavalry soldier to make sure his horse obeyed him in battle than it was to be kind to it.

And lastly, horses also wore chamfrons (a mask and headpiece) to protect their head during battle and some even gave their horses metal cages over their eyes to protect them from things like dust, small pebbles kicked off during a charge, and in lucky instances arrows and splinters.

From all this, it would be seen that equipping a horse was no small task.

How expensive exactly?

Well, first there was the cost of a horse.

And though prices varied very significantly from region to region, and from horse breed to breed, but a decently trained war horse would still cost on average as much as a slave, about five thousand (5,000) ropal, while a highly trained one would go for as much as fifteen thousand (15,000) ropals.

And buying a horse was arguably the cheapest part of obtaining a horse.

For the expenses of feeding and maintaining a horse would almost certainly exceed that over its lifetime.

Horses needed a lot of food, and great love and care, something that Alexander he found out the hard way when he was doing the expenses report at the end of November.

It was the first time he did such a thing as in Adhan, it was Ptolomy who footed the bill and so Alexander really did not care.

Thus, when he laid his eyes on the gigantic expenses listed for the five hundred (500) military horses he had called Grahtos immediately to help him sort them out.

Of course, he did not think Grahtos had stolen the money but was curious to know how horses could cost that much to maintain.

And Graphtos then graciously let Alexander know how all the expenses came.

“My lord,” He had said, “A horse every day needs about 15 to 20 kg of feed. It needs 2 to 3 ropals of bread loaves, 3 ropals of hay, and about 8-10 ropals of oat. That’s about 15 ropals a day right there.”

Horses needed to eat about 2% of their body weight every day, which for the breeds Alexander had, came to 20kg per day.

“Next are the equipment costs.” He then pointed out.

“Many horses we were using were workhorses, and so they needed a saddle. That was 100 ropals!”

Alexander had a small heart attack hearing the price but before flaring up, he thought about it a while and understood the wooden structure had to be carved and the leather seat had to be tanned and sown by an expert hand.

Hence the price.

Graptos then continued listing the prices, “A halter, which was the leather rope used to tie around the horse’s head and lead it, costs 5 ropals.”

“Then there are the new horseshoes, which my lord has ordered to be made with iron. Fortunately, they were cheap by the grace of sire and cost only 20 ropals.” ｂ𝚍ｏｖ𝚕．𝚝

Alexander felt another punch to the gut hearing this, and somehow the word ‘fortunately’ stung him even more.

Horseshoes were invented because the hooves of horses would wear out over time due to continuous use, and so they needed some covering over their relatively delicate feet.

And in this time period, these coverings would be normally made by wrapping the feet with thick fabric, rawhide, or leather.

Alexander had noticed this practice years ago, but it was only after getting Zanzan and having access to cheap iron that he had asked Grahtos to replace these coverings with the more ‘traditional’ U-shaped metal iron pieces which would be nailed to the horse hooves.

This was done as a long-term cost-saving measure as the other types would quickly wear out.

But the initial cost still hurt Alexander.

“So, much!” Alexander could not help but let an exclamation at the large price, which Grahtos quickly justified, “Each of the four horseshoes weighs more than a kilogram, so that’s 3 ropals there. Then there are the costs of shaping the metal, there’s fuel costs, the cost of using the furnace, and lastly skilled labor. All that makes it around 5 ropals per shoe. And my lord let me assure you this is on the cheaper side.” Grahtos emphasized, making Alexander slump a bit in defeat.

And then the man gave his penultimate category of expenses.

“Also, there are ‘grooming’ expenses,” Grahtos continued unperturbed.

“Hooves are like nails and hairs. They are growing constantly. So their feet have to be looked after by removing the shoes and cutting the hooves. And then the shoes have to be put on again.”

“I asked some hostler (someone who grooms a horse) and they said an idle horse would need to have it done about once every six weeks and it would cost 1 ropal a leg.”

And Grahtos finished by saying, “And lastly, horses also get sick and need doctors and medicine. They need regular check-ups and a stable boy to look after them. These expenses are not fixed but in my experience, but usually comes at around 5 to 10 ropals a month”