Horses and travel

[TheokinsJ]

Basically in my fantasy world there is a culture that rules over a large expanse of grassland, and rely heavily on horses. They are sometimes referred to as the 'Horsemen', and their swift and agile steeds are known in every corner of the world and famous for their strength and endurance. In my story, a character travels alone, by horse, across what I would say is a good 300km of open grassland. Now my question is, how many days will it take him to complete the journey/how many kilometres can a horse and rider travel per day?-Baring in mind that the culture this character belongs to is famed for their ability to ride long distances swiftly. I read somewhere (Not sure if it is true, perhaps one of you could enlighten me) that the huns used to ride 120km a day. The Huns are very similar to my culture, they were known the be able to sleep in their saddles and to ride long distances. Anyway, that was just a thought- so how many km could an average rider ride per day? And how many is the MAXIMUM, pushing the horse to the absolute limit?

 

[CupofJoe]

I tried finding out about this a year or so ago and found little hard information.There are long-rider horses that are trained to ride extreme distances very fast [160+km/day] but they can only do that 3-4 times a year and then need lots of time to recuperate.
But from what I've read; for a rider 120km/day is possible with lots of horses to swap in and out but I would guess it is closer to 50km per day for a single horse and rider if they want to go on for day after day especially if they are carrying any sort of baggage.
But still... it beats walking.

 

[Butterfly]

I found this helpful Competitive trail riding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Filk]

Answers will vary. I've read 30 miles is average, but that could be pushed. I've walked 20-25 miles in about 6-8 hours, so that figure seems low. Also, if one is pushing a horse to exhaustion it is a good idea to get down and walk it for a while.

Instead of precise distance measurements, you could have standards for travel between your cities and then someone could say, "Wow! You traveled from this city to that city in four days? It usually takes six!" This would eliminate your need for such statistics.

 

[skip.knox]

Filk makes a point worth remembering. It would be unusual to ride a horse for, say, ten hours a day without a break. The horse has to stop to eat, to drink, and to rest. Walking the horse was very standard practice.

The type of horse matters. Farm horse, pack horse, war horse, or ... oh, call it a travel horse. If your MC is a member of the horse clans, s/he likely has that fourth type, but that was pretty uncommon. A horse is terribly expensive to keep, so most did work--something more than merely hauling some human's ass from A to B. But nomadic or semi-nomadic people often kept livestock and so really did have horses that could travel a long haul. So, if your MC stole his father's plow horse, he's not going to cover the same kind of ground than if he were a Prince of the Horse Clans.

Then you can factor in weather. Sloppy ground (and grasslands can go sloppy fast in a heavy rain and even more in a spring thaw) will slow a horse tremendously, even to the point where it's faster to walk than to ride.

Let's see. Then there are supplies. If it takes a week to cross the grasslands, that means a week's worth of food to carry, along with other supplies. That's too much for the horse to carry alone, so you're bringing a palfrey or pack horse. Slower. If you don't carry enough, then it's time out to hunt. Or you could just stick a convenient town part way across.

Oh, and rivers can provide a challenge. Two days delay finding a ford. Or, just a convenient watering stop. You get to choose!

Good question!

 

[Kahle]

I know the huns and mongols would have 3-4 horses per rider that they would switch out throughout their travels. Sometimes outposts kept extra horses for couriers so the rider could keep on with fresh mounts. However, riding at night is asking for trouble. There are stories of night travel, but you increase the risk to the horse and the rider tenfold. Just as with running, the best was to cover extensive ground is to alternate at equal intervals running with the horse and riding at brisk pace (not galloping, which is more for pursuit/short distances). Humans can cover 26 miles in 3-4 hours, so add in equal parts walking and you have a 40 mile day (accomplished by the Roman legions with full packs in Marius' time). A horse trained for sustained travel and loads should be able to get at least 50, if not 60 miles.

 

[skip.knox]

While a human *can* cover 26 miles in three or four hours, most cannot, and even the physically trained cannot keep it up for day after day. Some people die trying to cover even that much. Marius' mules could manage 40 miles, but only for a few days. I think the better question is going to be how long would it take a horse to cover 300km (which is what TheokinsJ originally asked). That would mean asking if a horse could sustain 60km/day for five consecutive days, given good weather and plenty of food and water.

To put it another way, the number of miles a horse can cover in one day is a different figure than how many miles it can cover in a week. You can't just take the day figure and multiply by seven.

 

[Kahle]

^ excellent points

I was really taking into consideration the use of remounts. If this culture is centered around the utility of horses, they would likely have that option, even when traveling alone.

Also for context, the huns and legions were military forces, not an entire culture, and so trained for those exercises.