F
flapanthers2000
Guest
Two of my friends have a debate going about if Ostriches were used as cavalry in armies before gun-poweder (Maybe even shortley after gun-powder). I am torn and want to find the answer. I cannot find any difinitive answer anywhere, so looking for some asisstance. I can see the advantage as Ostriches are clearly superior in speed and require much less food and water to survive then horses, but they aren't very smart and their good eye-sight may make it hard to command them forward against horses.
My best guess is that if they were ever used, they were used as a scout, or some archers rode ostriches to move into battle faster and escape if attacked by horse cavalry, as they would easily out run the horses. And to note, we already discussed that a well trained horse can reach high speeds as well, but a scared ostrich will easily out-run a typical horse, as we came to a conclusion that an army of cavalry would either not spend the time to train hroses for max speed, or the riders would be so heavy it would slow the horse. An ostrich is said to easily break 40 mph when fleeing from a preditor, so it seems simple to say an ostrch being chased by a horse wins.
Does anyone have hard proof either way? It seems a good argument but its been going for week and I want a solid answer! I honestly hope they did get used, for the fun factor, but I have doubts about it.... A link or reference to a show/book where i cna look up would be great if possible!!
My best guess is that if they were ever used, they were used as a scout, or some archers rode ostriches to move into battle faster and escape if attacked by horse cavalry, as they would easily out run the horses. And to note, we already discussed that a well trained horse can reach high speeds as well, but a scared ostrich will easily out-run a typical horse, as we came to a conclusion that an army of cavalry would either not spend the time to train hroses for max speed, or the riders would be so heavy it would slow the horse. An ostrich is said to easily break 40 mph when fleeing from a preditor, so it seems simple to say an ostrch being chased by a horse wins.
Does anyone have hard proof either way? It seems a good argument but its been going for week and I want a solid answer! I honestly hope they did get used, for the fun factor, but I have doubts about it.... A link or reference to a show/book where i cna look up would be great if possible!!