Medieval warhorses no bigger than modern-day ponies, study finds

The medieval war horse is usually depicted as a hulking, foot-stomping, snorting beast in films and literature, but a new study has claimed that it was a much more subtle animal.

A team of historians and archaeologists have concluded that most of the steeds that carried the knights into battle were only the size of a pony.

The bones of about 2,000 horses dating from the fourth to 17th centuries were examined by researchers, as well as combing historical records and fictional stories of chivalry.

Prof Alan Outram, of the University of Exeter's archaeology department, said that things are not as they have been portrayed. Warhorses are often depicted as the size of a shire horse in popular culture. It was not like that. Most medieval horses are small. There are very few that are the size portrayed in film and exhibitions.

War horses are depicted in an illuminated manuscript page. The picture is from the North Wind Picture Archives.

The maximum height of a modern pony is 14.2 hands, but the majority of medieval horses were less than that.

The remains of a horse from the Norman period were found in the grounds of Trowbridge castle, but it was only 15 hands the size of a small light riding horse.

Outram said that size wasn't everything for medieval warriors. He said that armies would have needed smaller horses for tasks such as raiding enemy bases and transporting equipment, but that there might have been some large war horses.

The research team wanted to make clear that they did not mean to imply that medieval horse breeders did not put a lot of time and money into their work. The royal stud was an amazing network in the 13th and 14th century. They spent more money on horses than people.

There is a lot of work to be done. It's difficult to determine which horse was a war horse, since the remains of very few horses have been found on battlefields. Most fallen war horses were hauled off to the knacker's yard rather than given a proper burial.

The next steps include studying horse armour, looking at the DNA of bones, and analyzing findings at a site in Westminster.