A long chase

[Malik]

Thanks, Skip.

The "Big Army" in my series are Dragoons, who travel by horseback and then dismount to fight. They specifically do this so that they can cover huge distances in a short amount of time, and by leaving their horses off the field, they don't have to worry about walking home. In my second book, the MC is stunned at how fast an enemy army just appears around his castle; he wakes up one morning and they're there. A battalion-strength unit of Dragoons can cover 50-60 miles in a day, every day, and can do it under cover of heavy forest canopy or sticking to draws where your scouts will never see them. They just show up out of nowhere ready to make your life hell.

 

[ThinkerX]

I'm late to this party and I don't want to start a fight, but a horse making time, at anything past a walk that the rider is intentionally slowing down to keep up with people on foot, is moving at 4 mph. This is an INSANE physical feat for a human to hold for more than a couple of hours. It doesn't seem like much until you're about a mile into it and trying to keep up. A respectable marathoner runs 26 miles in 5 hours, or ~5 mph. The Army standard for deployment readiness is 3 miles in 45 minutes (4 mph)--my unit standard is 6 miles in 90 minutes, so kill me, please--with a 45-lb. ruck, helmet, and weapon, over gentle hills and maybe on trails, although one sadistic son of a bitch made us do 24 laps on a track for time. In Florida. In June. And I hope when I die I go to hell so I can have the opportunity to beat the crap out of him every afternoon for eternity. But I digress.

Point being, holding 4 mph all day is nearly impossible unless you're from a tribe or race that has had you running your entire life. Masai warriors whohunt the grasslands barefoot can hold this kind of pace day in and day out. Most people can't. I know all our fantasy heroes somehow can, but that's on the writer to explain. I recommend anyone who hasn't done it to go to a gym and get on a treadmill at a 15:00 pace and see how many miles you can finish before you have to slow the belt down.

TL; DR: A horse will outstrip you after an hour and in two hours will be out of sight unless you're an absolute unit.

which is why the quasi-roman legions of my main world travel via bicycle. heavy, clunky, single speed contraptions with solid rubber on the rims. But still - 4-8 miles an hour (kit and road conditions depending), 40 - 80 miles a day, maybe a hundred if they really push it.