There was a good program about the Mongols recently, it said the horses they bred and rode were able to feed on grass rather than having to have other food supplies which was a great help in their success.
I am no horseman and was surprised not all breeds of horses did well on pasture.
Can you horsey types advise.
Resurrecting an old thread but I don't known how I missed this.
The rules of feeding a horse I were taught are
1) Water before feeding and make sure water is always available.
2) Feed little but often
3) Feed according to the work done
4) Feed only good quality forage
5) Feed a succulent everyday
6) Do not exercise straight after feeding wait an hour.
7) Feed plenty of roughage
8) Keep feed buckets and tubs clean
9) Ensure salt is available at all times
The ponies ridden by the Mongols would have been extremely hardy and would have obtained all they needed from the pasture.
The problem starts when horses were bred for specific tasks.
A Hunter (Type of horse I am most familiar with) required crushed barley or rolled oats to give energy, bran to provide roughage and soaked sugar beat pulp as the succulent. Hay provided in a net. Amounts varied according to work done. During the hunting season he would have all the above, but out of season, pasture grazing with a little supplement feed if used for hacking etc.
Oats and Barley can "heat" a horse, meaning that the animal has excessive energy which causes problems such as azoturia or as grooms call it "Monday Morning Sickness" this happens when a horse is feed for work such as hunting during the week hunting perhaps Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and exercised Wednesday. The Horse is fed for Hunting Saturday but does little Sunday or Monday, the horse "heats" starts to tremble, stagger and can collapse. Feed should contain no energy foods Saturday afternoon, Sunday or Monday. Then build up for work again Monday evening.
The above affected cavalry and heavy horses from medieval times onward.
I use to ride a beautiful horse called Gay Fiesta, or Fizzy for short. After hunting she would wait patiently whilst I scrapped her, thatched and rugged her and brushed out the plaits in her tail and mane. She knew what was coming next. 4 bottles of Guinness emptied into a bucket! She loved it!
The Mongols would have had to watch out for one potential problem with their ponies which would occur mainly in spring. The grass starts to grow lush and sweet, if the ponies are allowed to gorge they run the risk of getting Laminitis, this is where the soft tissue in side hoof starts to swell. Because the hoof is encased in hard horn the swelling is painfully contained and starts to push down on the sole and frog (part of the underside of the hoof). The animal becomes extremely lame and cannot move well. characteristically it will stand with the affected leg stretched and the weight off the hoof with just the tip resting on the ground.
The Mongols would have to ensure that their ponies were moved in the spring to areas with more sparse growth of grass.
In case anyone is wondering I hunted drag with a pack of drag hounds. I do not care for fox hunting. Drag Hounds chase a scent, sometimes aniseed laid by a runner. no wild animal is hunted. It is a very fast form of hunting with plenty of jumping and requires a fit horse.
I will be honest, I have fox hunted many years ago but I prefer the drag, not only for humane reasons but also fox hunting can best be described as my Father described his war time experiences in the RAF 45% of the time is spent waiting for something to happen, another 45% is spent waiting for something to stop happening and the remaining 10% is spent in shear and utter terror!
Certainly for any army that has a large mounted contingent that requires heavy horses then the logistical tail would be immense. Remember also the Mongol ponies required no shoeing. Larger horses will go lame if worked for any extended period without shoes. So your army also requires a team of farriers, metal, wood to heat forges, heavy forges and anvils much the same as armourers.
I had a friend who served in the Blues and Royals Cavalry as a farrier. During ceremonial parades he could always be identified as his plume was black and he carried a large axe over his shoulder. This went back to before the Napoleonic wars. During battle the farriers job was to give first aid to wounded horses and using his axe dispatch any beyond help. He would also remove the front right hoof of any dead horse, this had the horses army number branded on it and then after battle it could be seen how many and which horses were lost.
