How brave should a horse be? I mean, warhorses exist but I don't

Work horses, donkeys, and oxen bolt or refuse to fight

Warhorses have a chance of panicking on taking damage that's reduced by training

>>54442368
> Your horse is more courageous than yourself
> Always charge toward danger
> Force you to be a hero

Interestingly, purebreed horses were more likely to panic than mongrel ones upon artillery fire. The mongrels knew that the best chance was to duck and cover.

>>54442368
In that picture it looks more like the horse is trying to lunge away from the dragon to the left.

>>54442368
Depends on the training it's been given.
Police horses are trained to cope with noise, and to push towards crowds when directed to.
Cavalry horses are also trained to keep formation at various gaits, but not to fight.
Warhorses would have combined the training of a cavalry horse with learning to fight in conjunction with their riders' efforts.

>>54443839
>Thinking warhorses actually fought
With fucking what? Their bite would never pierce armor and rearing back to kick with their front legs or kicking with their back legs unbalances the rider and could lead to him being knocked off, which could easily turn fatal during a battle.
Horses did not "fight," they stayed in formation and obeyed their riders while the riders fought. Obedience is the most valued trait in a warhorse, not aggression.

>>54444894
Fighting in this case means trampling people to death when commanded to. This is something that it has to be trained to do.

So you can say they are "trained to fight" without implying horsey martial arts

>>54442368
You are underestimating how easy it is to train horses.

There are such things as stunt horses for movies. As in horses that are trained to fall on command and make it look like they died over and over again for multiple takes. Some scenes will involve actual explosions and screaming people that the horse just ignores.

>>54444956
Trampling was not as common of a tactic as people seem to think, and it opens up the horse's underside to a lot of potential stabbing sharp objects. If you were close enough to trample with your horse, you were better off using your lance or sword and keeping your mount away from the sharp bits. Horses are not super tough animals, they're pretty fragile. One messed up leg, one twisted ankle, and the horse is as good as dead.
>Direct my steed to trample some infantry to death, we ride towards them
>As my horse stomps on the soldiers, one's blade dashes up and strikes deep into my horse's belly
>The horse is unable to run any longer, now useless in the battle
>Horse is dead, money and years of training are wasted.

>>54445054
You sound like you've never worked with a horse in your life if you think teaching them to do that shit is easy. Horses aren't smart creatures. A lot of times they're very stubborn. The average time of training a medieval warhorse was 4-5 years, the stunt horses might require a little less time but it will still be years.

>>54445106
I have worked with horses

Your timetable is very accurate

I don't see the problem

>>54445221
I have too, when I see someone saying it's "easy" to train horses not to freak out and shit, it doesn't seem honest. Easy is subjective, but when I see it called easy it gives me a projected timeframe of weeks rather than months of work. I just get tired of fantasy writers assuming horses are just like kick ass automotons that can ride into any battle, never need to eat, never get tired, never need training, never run away, etc.

>>54445063
You are right that it wasn't the ideal but I think you are overestimating how much people would be willing to try and stab a horse while they were presumably on the ground being stepped on by 1k pound animals.

Obviously horses are going to die and you want to minimize that loss but sometimes you have to break a formation and skirmish passes aren't going to cut it