Cavalry charges

[Watchman]

...it can't have been *that* long since this was last discussed...

Anyway, to nutshell it: you're trained in riding with stirrups. Back then, cavalrymen learned from ground up to do without in full combat. Easy as that, really; a lot of "impossible" acts are just a question of putting in enough training hours.

As for the impact, eh. Just loosen your hold on the spear-shaft if it seems to become a problem, and let it "glide" until it's safe to grab it again and extract. This is really what the stirrup, the couching technique and eventually the full-plate lance-rest did, in fact; hike up the "absolute threshold" of impact the rider-horse team could deal with before having to "let loose" for safety reasons.

[Cyrus]

Just loosen your hold on the spear-shaft if it seems to become a problem, and let it "glide" until it's safe to grab it again and extract. This is really what the stirrup, the couching technique and eventually the full-plate lance-rest did, in fact; hike up the "absolute threshold" of impact the rider-horse team could deal with before having to "let loose" for safety reasons.

Sorry but could you explain that? i don't understand what you mean at all, eg how do i let a spear glide?

[Watchman]

Loosen your grip on the damn thing so the problematic levels of impact force are no longer applied to the rider/mount team. Duh.

[Cyrus]

ok, what about the rest?

[Watchman]

ok, what about the rest?

What rest ?

[Watchman]

...although, given the spear techniques used, just relaxing your arms in a controlled fashion and "rolling" the weapon out of the target would probably do the trick. Or in any case from what I've read this is how you extract the xyston when using the Mac one-handed lance technique, right off the charge.

[Cyrus]

This is really what the stirrup, the couching technique and eventually the full-plate lance-rest did, in fact; hike up the "absolute threshold" of impact the rider-horse team could deal with before having to "let loose" for safety reasons.

this rest

[Watchman]

You mean the lance-rest ?

[Aemilius Paulus]

Forget not the saddles they used in the pre-stirrup era. Most of them had "horns" and various other features to hold the rider in place. Such as the back and the front of the saddle being very high to keep the horseman from falling with the shock of the charge. This and the techniques used for delivering the charge enabled cavalrymen to get by.