Gah. Somebody somewhere had a Web page on writing travel with horses -- it was to keep you from making stupid mistakes. It did things like warn against riding stallions (they're a pain in the ass on long journeys), mares coming into heat, about how far a horse could travel in a day, and like that.

Does that ring a bell for anybody?

Plei: Judith Tarr's Lippizzaner stallion. Pretty boy. [link]

Oh, GOD i'm such a raging sucker for Lippis. And I don't think that's just the Viennese side of me talking. Perfect little short compact powerful studly horses. t sigh

Anyway, I don't remember the website you're talking about, but I'll second the stallion advice -- they're a fucking PITA.

Did you have particular horsey questions?

How far could a party on five horses reasonably expect to ride in a day? (Walking or trotting, not galloping.) How often would teh horses have to be rested? Do you have to stop riding at twilight, or if there's a full moon could you continue?

Betsy, was it Horse Sense, A Writer's Guide to the Horse?

Oh, loook. [link]

That's not the one I was thinking of, but it's very handy. Thanks!

How far could a party on five horses reasonably expect to ride in a day? (Walking or trotting, not galloping.) How often would teh horses have to be rested? Do you have to stop riding at twilight, or if there's a full moon could you continue?

(meep! My doG, he's gorgeous!)

As far as your questions go t tears self away from Lippis the longest modern endurance races are 100 miles. At that kind distance, they'll be going at a fairly fast trot for most of the way -- let's say 10 mph for 10 hours. But that kind of distance is for desert warfare and the horse equivalent of marathon racing -- are your characters out for a pleasure ride and they get caught out after dark, or are they running from highway robbers or angry relations?

I ask because that kind of trotting speed is bloody hard to endure unless the rider is equally fit. IIRC from my old pony club manual, a more typical trot is about 6-8 mph, and a walk about the speed of a brisk human walk, ~3 mph.

Horses are naturally diurnal, and they'll definitely want rest and a stunning amount of roughage after a long day. Be careful of your road surfaces if you're riding after dark. And more than a full day or so of that kind of stuff will cause the average horse to break down -- even the fittest sport horses generally get days off after a big exertion.

Gah. Somebody somewhere had a Web page on writing travel with horses -- it was to keep you from making stupid mistakes. It did things like warn against riding stallions (they're a pain in the ass on long journeys), mares coming into heat, about how far a horse could travel in a day, and like that.

Jane Ross Ewing has one on her page somewhere.

Oh, and the answer to how fast horses can go remains "slower than a bleeping Winnebago."

That's what I needed.. Thanks, Plei.

Oh, and they're making roughly a two-day journey away from an approaching army. They're in a hurry, but they don't want to kill the horses. There's a pre-asphalt road. And the second day is up into the foothills of mountains.

So.... how far away are the mountains?