While a lot of the set up for the Spring Festival had a lot of its events indoors at the Claw Coliseum where they had the larger arenas that could be used for displays and would avoid either the cold that to a degree lingered from winter and the snow that had come with it or the mud that related to the fact that the weather was warming. However the jousting tournament was something that really couldn't be done indoors, partially because of the fact that the horses used weren't uplifted, yet, but there was also the major issue of their size and unlike Animalia's horses, which had largely replaced metal shoes with rubber ones, so as to be able to walk on tiled floors without doing damage to the floor. And while the Claw Coliseum had some larger hallways and entrances for food deliveries and so on, many of those hallways didn't directly lead into the main inside arenas and the building managers agreed they didn't want to lay dirt all through the building to move the animals inside.
This meant that the jousting tournament would be held outside, and while it wasn't super warm, yet, it wasn't exactly freezing and enough sand and dryer soil had been brought in soak up a good bit the winter snow melt. Things were a bit muddy, but it didn't appear too bad. The big thing that the Animalians of Lyre and Animalia, as well as their Human neighbors were amazed at was at the size of the horses. As Abby and Samson made their way into the stands they found their friends seated together. Sophie was with Roland, Sarah with Travis. Simon was present with Malice, who was genuinely happy to have her mate "home" for at least a short while, though his graduation from the North Los Vegas campus for the Nevada Police Academy wasn't too far off. That was set to be in May, around the same time that everyone in Lyre and Animalia let out for Summer Vacation. Jessica was there with Roger. All of them were discussing the size of the horses the "knights" had with them.
"Hey, Abby, Samson!" Sarah said with a wave, "what do you guys think. They're big, aren't they?"
Abby and Samson looked back over their shoulders toward the field where knights were getting ready for the tournament and the various events that would relate to it. It included many of the things one might expect from a jousting tournament, which the knights actually liked. While some of the ground looked a bit muddy, the knights had also said that was actually a bit preferable. If it were in the summer or fall, the ground would be much harder and due to their horses being built more like a draft horse, any fall off of them would have the potential to hurt more due to the horse's larger size and that was even without a catastrophic accident with the horse falling on the rider. While extra dirt and sand had been brought in to keep it from being a complete quagmire, some of the moisture in the soil was welcome as it would ensure a softer landing, and from what they could see as the knights took their mounts through their paces and warm ups around the field, the ground wasn't being torn up and they weren't sinking in to a degree that would hinder them.
"Yeah they do," Abby commented, "like a draft horse but more agile... They have an historian that will say a few things before the actual tournament starts."
"We got to meet with him, the knights, and the horses," Samson added, "but they requested that we not say anything..."
"Probably to make sure they can make their presentation," Roland guessed, "they don't want anyone to ruin their planned surprise."
"More like a lesson," Abby corrected as she and Samson sat down.
The others slowly nodded and looked out to the field. By now the knights had moved to opposing sides of the field selected for the tournament while the historian that had come with the knights moved up to a speaker's platform on the other side of the field. It was decorated and done up to look like the area where the king or a high ranking noble would sit in an actual medieval tournament and the only things of modernity on it were a set of speakers and a microphone. The man had some notecards with him and he arranged them before clearing his throat and beginning his talk and introduction.
"Good afternoon," the historian spoke, "I am William Tail, historian with the European Union's Medieval/Renaissance Cultural and Historical Society. I have had the privilege to work with various member nations regarding their Medieval traditions with regard to what you will see here today with our jousting tournament and keeping our presentation as accurate as possible. What you will see is generally accurate to Medieval history with regard actual tournaments that in many ways serve as beginnings of modern equestrian sports and reflect the general tactics that were employed by Medieval cavalry."
He then flipped his cards to move onto the next points.
"Now, first, it should be understood that the use of horses in warfare has been present for much of human history and particularly with civilization," William Tail spoke, "as horses can increase the speed and mobility of an army. Their strides are longer than humans and they can carry more weight than humans, which humanity found beneficial... though this also lead to selective breeding by humanity. As while a horse's spine can hold a decent amount of weight, horses didn't evolve specifically for that purpose. That was more a discovery by humanity and this often related to the needs and the units used. Light cavalry units, like those in Egypt, the early Arabs, the Huns, and the Mongols would often use smaller and lighter horses... the ancestors of the modern Arabian and Mongol Horses. However, these horses weren't carrying that much in the way of weight beyond the man riding the horse. In Medieval Europe, however, with the greater reliance on heavy cavalry and armored knights... a larger animal was needed in order to carry the weight of the rider and the armor worn and still have the energy to charge."
William Tail flipped to the next card and continued.
"However, much of what we know in relation the breeding of horses for this purpose in the Middle Ages is limited by the fact that the scientific terms and classifications back then are no longer in use today... and neither did medieval breeders truly "name" specific breeds," William Tail explained, "This has generally lead to the use of the term "war horse" as an identifier for a breed that could carry a heavily armored night into battle... and often the horse would be armored as well. From what we have been able to discover through our research is that if we are to connect the Medieval war horse with a modern breed... we believe that breed would actually be the Percheron, a large French draft horse that is quite agile for its size and is the breed our knights are using today.
Again William Tail flipped to the next card.
"And through the Medieval period, this breed saw heavy use in warfare for carrying knights into battle and potentially pulling wagons as well," William Tail continued, "However, once the use of gunpowder based weapons came into widespread use and the plate armor worn by Medieval knights becoming ineffective... the use of large war horses began to decline. Breeds like the Percheron would see military use into the 20th Century, but by this time that was more in pulling artillery and providing the armies with logistics. Lighter horses, like the Arabian, the Thoroughbred, and the American Quarter Horse, among many others would see more use with cavalry units as the changes in warfare had both removed the armor that would need to be carried and required greater speed and agility than a breed like the Percheron has. They would see service through both World Wars, though the last large scale use of horse cavalry was in World War I where the machine gun helped create the stalemate of that war made cavalry tactics difficult to impossible and the introduction of the tank in 1916 would essentially signal the end of the use of horses as a major weapon of war... And today the tank remains the primary weapon used in the heavy cavalry role that the armored knight played in Medieval Europe. Horses would see service in the Second World War, particularly in Germany and the Soviet Union, but this was more with regard to logistics than anything else... Today, horses used by modern militaries are generally for ceremonial and historical reenactment, which is what we will be providing."
"The Germans used horses in World War II?" Jessica blinked in surprise, "I thought they used tanks..."
"They did," came a male voice from behind them, making them turn to see Daniel seated there with Mandy, "though... a lot of the attention given to the Germans has often focused on HOW they used their tanks the specific tanks they had, particularly in relation to their victories in 1940 and ignored how many tanks and trucks they had. I've done some reading into some of the war's stories... in that, the US and British were actually far MORE mechanized than the Germans and that from 1939 to 1945 they were heavily dependent on horses to move supplies because they didn't have enough trucks to handle all the needs they had. And that the German use of horses would allow Joe Medicine Crow to earn the right to be a "war chief" for the Crow people. In that... while the Germans were good in WW2, they perhaps weren't quite as good as they were given credit for."
"But that'd go beyond the presentation," Mandy said pointing to the field.
By now they had hay bales set up with targets set on them in the middle and William Tail was explaining the nature of the specific events that were part of the tournament. Many of which related to what he and the knights had already explained to Abby and Samson earlier. This included marking points for accuracy for hitting the targets and lancing the rings. The big thing that they mentioned though was that the accuracy was to be a test of the knight's ability to hold his lance steady as the horse galloped. It wasn't a contest of archery, as that was more of a infantry unit in Medieval unit and while there were such things as "horse archers," they were generally regarded as light cavalry and thus weren't part of the use of the sorts of battles the Medieval knight fought in. Before they got started with the actual events, William Tail had one last thing to say.
"And before we get started, we will remind you to be polite and not heckle the knights," William Tail spoke, "So, please... no mentions on Sir Lose-a-lot's feeble fingered peasant mum."
The mention was noted and the end joke did generate few chuckles at the reference to some recent commercials. Especially when the Rainbow Knight was seen to shake his head at the line, "Sir Lose-a-lot." From there they then went through the various events, with the horses kicking up mud as they charged forward to lance at the targets mounted onto the hay bales, and with the targets being hay and wooden targets, they did use a sharp pointed to lance as a demonstration of the raw power a mounted knight had. There were actually a few gasps at seeing the hay bales flip when hit. Though, despite some of the humor made at his expense, the Rainbow Knight actually did rather well. In the second event after a wooden scaffolding was set up by some "squires" with metal rings hanging by colored ribbon, the Rainbow Knight and anther knight, who had a large red Maltese Cross on his shield managed to collect the most rings.
Abby watched all of it with some degree of amazement, though mostly at the horsemanship. She remembered back before Animalia, when she was still human and Samson was a normal horse. She and her friends would go riding around the areas of the Brown Farm that were used as pasture for the animals, but while she remembered being a good rider, she'd never really taken Samson up to a full gallop, and Jessica, Sophie, and Sarah hadn't done that with the other horses the Browns had for basic riding and breeding purposes. A part of her memory didn't even think she could have managed it safely back then as she hadn't been big enough. She may have been stronger than her friends thanks to helping her parents with the farm work, but that didn't mean that as a 14 year old girl she could fully control an animal that weighed over 1,000 pounds at a full gallop. Of course, when Animalia came, that soon changed as Abby became a physically mature American Quarter Horse Animalian mare with the size difference between and Samson being much smaller than before Animalia, along with "riding" Samson now having a very different meaning for her now that both of them were Animalians. Still, the skill displayed by the knights in handling the Percheron horses that they rode, which 1,100 pounds would be considered SMALL for that breed, though the horses they had were like closer to the Percheron's 2,000 pound maximum weight.
"They are fast," Sophie spoke, "especially for how big they are."
Abby nodded.
"I bet with all the Renaissance Fairs that Mr. Tail has said they've done they'd have some neat stories when their uplifted," Roland added.
"And we'll all love to hear them," Samson commented as he patted Abby's hand.
The last event was essentially what Samson had earlier compared to the butting heads of Bighorn Sheep, and even some domesticated sheep species, but they had also noted that the knights used a large round bulb on the tip of the lance so as to avoid puncturing injuries and additional padded armor was draped over the plate armor to help cushion the blows. And of course, the moisture in the ground did allow for a softer landing in the cases of any unplanned dismounts and no one was hurt. The demonstration ended with the knights giving a bow to the crowd and William Tail providing the time for the next show as they went through the Spring Fair.