11th C horses.

[conon394]

lugh

I agree that it does not seem to add up. Based on surviving skeletons the Classical Greeks (circs 4th century BC) had horses that averaged 13 hands high, and those were considered unsuitable for serving as the mount for a fully armored Persian (etc.) cataphract. So after 1500 years of breeding heavily armored cavalry were riding horses only marginally larger than classical Greek horses that were considered largely unsuitable for the roll?

[Kraxis]

It could have been bulkier, that would explain why it could carry a heavy load and why the bones and shoes might appear larger?

In any case I'm not on who is in favour of the small horse theory. I mean the Vikings had a strong little horse (the current Icelandic horse, hasn't changed since then), but it was considered a runt by the Carolingians and so on. And it was hardly any bigger (or smaller) than those horses mentioned. So one would ask, which horses did the Normans then change to since their own horses were not good enough (back when they were Vikings)?
The Viking horse was strong and hardy, and could even run in five different steps, compared to the three of the normal horses. Why would they exchange that for a beast that was not as hardy, only possibly as strong and was less versatile? Makes no sense at all... The European horses must have been bigger than the Viking/Icelandic horses.

[CBR]

It could have been bulkier, that would explain why it could carry a heavy load and why the bones and shoes might appear larger?

Well Im no equine expert so I have to trust Ann Hyland in her judgement. AFAIK you can measure human height by the thigh bone pretty accurately, so I guess the same goes for horses if you have a good idea of what breed it is. And same for hoove size.

She considers a typical crusader warhorse to be around 15-15.2 hands and weighing 1200-1300 pounds. Turkmene horses of around same height but 800-900 pounds and Arabians of under 15 hands and 700-800 pounds.


CBR

[Kraxis]

Sounds reasonable...

[King Henry V]

I remember from Terry Jones' The Crusades, they showed a typical medieval charger, which was quite short, had thick legs and a broad back.