Skip to main content
Worldbuilding

Return to Answer

added 370 characters in body
Source Link
Nosajimiki
Nosajimiki
  • 97.7k
  • 7
  • 135
  • 386

Depends on the Bull

Domestic horses have a maximum sprinting speed just over twice that of domestic cattle (~55 mph vs ~25mph according to Google) This much lower top speed makes them a poor choice in any of the roles warhorses typically filled. In fact, they are more mobile than domestic cattle in every single way which is why cowboys use them so effectively for herding.

That said, there is a kind of bull that can more or less match paces with a horse and that is the Blue Wildebeest. They have a top speed of ~50mph which means that they are only marginally slower and smaller than horses, but fast enough that you generally would not want to push either animal to its full speed unless you are very experienced and have a very well designed saddle and stirrups; so, in practice, this slight max-speed difference won't really come into play.

Since your question is about elves specifically, the wildebeest may be a better mount than horses specifically if your elves are a bit smaller than humans. A wildebeest is a bit too small for humans since they are only about 1/2 the mass of a horse; so, whereas a 120kg armored knight is about optimal for a 550kg horse, a 60kg armored elf would work just fine from a 275kg wildebeest.

Appart from being more "to scale" for them, the wildebeest could give the elves all sorts of tactical advantages like:

  • They are shorter; so, they could hiding cavalry behind grasses and shrub lines that would be too low to hide horses in.
  • They have two toes; so, they can can maintain thier balance on uneven terrain better than horses allowing them to maneuver and charge over terrain that would stop a horse.
  • They are smaller; so, keeping them feed is easier meaning you could breed more of them with the same effort.
  • They are more maneuverable which would make them better at all sorts of cavalry things like chasing down zig-zaging routing infantry, skirmishing, and avoiding spike pits or other anti-cavalry traps.

Depends on the Bull

Domestic horses have a maximum sprinting speed just over twice that of domestic cattle (~55 mph vs ~25mph according to Google) This much lower top speed makes them a poor choice in any of the roles warhorses typically filled.

That said, there is a kind of bull that can more or less match paces with a horse and that is the Blue Wildebeest. They have a top speed of ~50mph which means that they are only marginally slower and smaller than horses.

Since your question is about elves specifically, the wildebeest may be a better mount than horses specifically if your elves are a bit smaller than humans. A wildebeest is a bit too small for humans since they are only about 1/2 the mass of a horse; so, whereas a 120kg armored knight is about optimal for a 550kg horse, a 60kg armored elf would work just fine from a 275kg wildebeest.

Appart from being more "to scale" for them, the wildebeest could give the elves all sorts of tactical advantages like:

  • They are shorter; so, they could hiding cavalry behind grasses and shrub lines that would be too low to hide horses in.
  • They have two toes; so, they can can maintain thier balance on uneven terrain better than horses allowing them to maneuver and charge over terrain that would stop a horse.
  • They are smaller; so, keeping them feed is easier meaning you could breed more of them with the same effort.
  • They are more maneuverable which would make them better at all sorts of cavalry things like chasing down zig-zaging routing infantry, skirmishing, and avoiding spike pits or other anti-cavalry traps.

Depends on the Bull

Domestic horses have a maximum sprinting speed just over twice that of domestic cattle (~55 mph vs ~25mph according to Google) This much lower top speed makes them a poor choice in any of the roles warhorses typically filled. In fact, they are more mobile than domestic cattle in every single way which is why cowboys use them so effectively for herding.

That said, there is a kind of bull that can more or less match paces with a horse and that is the Blue Wildebeest. They have a top speed of ~50mph which means that they are only marginally slower than horses, but fast enough that you generally would not want to push either animal to its full speed unless you are very experienced and have a very well designed saddle and stirrups; so, in practice, this slight max-speed difference won't really come into play.

Since your question is about elves specifically, the wildebeest may be a better mount than horses specifically if your elves are a bit smaller than humans. A wildebeest is a bit too small for humans since they are only about 1/2 the mass of a horse; so, whereas a 120kg armored knight is about optimal for a 550kg horse, a 60kg armored elf would work just fine from a 275kg wildebeest.

Appart from being more "to scale" for them, the wildebeest could give the elves all sorts of tactical advantages like:

  • They are shorter; so, they could hiding cavalry behind grasses and shrub lines that would be too low to hide horses in.
  • They have two toes; so, they can can maintain thier balance on uneven terrain better than horses allowing them to maneuver and charge over terrain that would stop a horse.
  • They are smaller; so, keeping them feed is easier meaning you could breed more of them with the same effort.
  • They are more maneuverable which would make them better at all sorts of cavalry things like chasing down zig-zaging routing infantry, skirmishing, and avoiding spike pits or other anti-cavalry traps.
Source Link
Nosajimiki
Nosajimiki
  • 97.7k
  • 7
  • 135
  • 386

Depends on the Bull

Domestic horses have a maximum sprinting speed just over twice that of domestic cattle (~55 mph vs ~25mph according to Google) This much lower top speed makes them a poor choice in any of the roles warhorses typically filled.

That said, there is a kind of bull that can more or less match paces with a horse and that is the Blue Wildebeest. They have a top speed of ~50mph which means that they are only marginally slower and smaller than horses.

Since your question is about elves specifically, the wildebeest may be a better mount than horses specifically if your elves are a bit smaller than humans. A wildebeest is a bit too small for humans since they are only about 1/2 the mass of a horse; so, whereas a 120kg armored knight is about optimal for a 550kg horse, a 60kg armored elf would work just fine from a 275kg wildebeest.

Appart from being more "to scale" for them, the wildebeest could give the elves all sorts of tactical advantages like:

  • They are shorter; so, they could hiding cavalry behind grasses and shrub lines that would be too low to hide horses in.
  • They have two toes; so, they can can maintain thier balance on uneven terrain better than horses allowing them to maneuver and charge over terrain that would stop a horse.
  • They are smaller; so, keeping them feed is easier meaning you could breed more of them with the same effort.
  • They are more maneuverable which would make them better at all sorts of cavalry things like chasing down zig-zaging routing infantry, skirmishing, and avoiding spike pits or other anti-cavalry traps.