Old-type horses with coloured mane & tails (keeping up with changing times)

[Bill Blackhurst]

but I did do some research before spraying blonde horses...there are blonde horses, so I was told.

The Palomino breed horses are caramel colored with blonde manes, & tails.

[WarriorOfToys]

Only Knights who owned land (and there for people) had symbols.
If you were a regular Infantry soldier, like a peasant, you would wear your lord's symbol on your tunic.
That way in the middle of battle if you lost the part of the army you were supposed to be in
You could look at your chest see the symbol and look for the flag with the same symbol.

If you were a knight, but only lived in your lord's household and didn't own any land
Then you would wear his symbol or "device".

They had these devices because many could not read, even knights and nobles.

This system of devices intertwines greatly with the feudal system,
And where knights fit in with the feudal system.
I have found a great book which explains in detail the feudal system,
Why it was created, and the things a couple people don't realize about it.

It is called Medieval Knights by Trevor Cairns, for those interested...

[cheng]

thanks for your kind explanation WOT....i did think along those lines but I forgot that they could be illiterate   
....hmmm...I wondor if those Qing soldiers and ashigarus I made could read 
..of course the other purpose for also wearing symbols on their backs is so that they dont get shot by their own archers 

[Wesley Myers]

They really look great!  Makes the old 'rocking horse' style horses usable (instead of just hiding them under barding).



As for the literacy in the middle ages, modern scholars have largely disproved many of the fallacies left over from Victorian times.  The "dark ages" were not so dark as we have commonly be misled to believe.

[WarriorOfToys]

thanks for your kind explanation WOT....i did think along those lines but I forgot that they could be illiterate   
....hmmm...I wondor if those Qing soldiers and ashigarus I made could read 
..of course the other purpose for also wearing symbols on their backs is so that they dont get shot by their own archers 

I am not sure about Chinese,
But this is the reason for the Japanese Samurai wearing the large flags on their backs
And symbols from the flags on their armor.

[Wolf Knight]

I am not sure about Chinese,
But this is the reason for the Japanese Samurai wearing the large flags on their backs
And symbols from the flags on their armor.

Weren't they also used so that leaders could see from a distance who is winning and who is loosing a battle? Meaning how many flags were still up and high....and how many flags had fallen.

[cheng]

I am not sure about Chinese,
But this is the reason for the Japanese Samurai wearing the large flags on their backs
And symbols from the flags on their armor.

hey WOT...dont start the 3rd Sino-Japoanese war! 
(perhaps the Chinese were 'civilised' much earlier but I wouldnt want to take on any historian amongst us  )

[cheng]

......Meaning how many flags were still up and high....and how many flags had fallen.

sounds like a kind of field survey  or popularity contest or game show 

yes...I'm in awe when I see so many ashigaru carrying flags on their backs...wont the wind catch them sometimes when they are just about to stick their spears...and what if the enemy suddenly put up a 6 foot high rope 
wont they run/fight better without having a pole tied to their backs?
...I wish I can ask these and more in one of those military forums 
...does anybody here knows?
(where are you, Tim?!)
 

[WarriorOfToys]

sounds like a kind of field survey  or popularity contest or game show 

yes...I'm in awe when I see so many ashigaru carrying flags on their backs...wont the wind catch them sometimes when they are just about to stick their spears...and what if the enemy suddenly put up a 6 foot high rope 
wont they run/fight better without having a pole tied to their backs?
...I wish I can ask these and more in one of those military forums 
...does anybody here knows?
(where are you, Tim?!)
 

Then again Cheng, sticking a 6 foot rope above them would have been hard to do...
And would have been against the warrior's code as it would classify as a trick!

Of course the Samurai would not break that code so...

Fighting may not really have been any harder,
You are already carrying about 60 pounds of armor,
A couple more hardly seem to matter in battle. (Trust me... )
Plus, it could only have weighed 1 or 2 pounds if it were bamboo or a very light wood.

And it is not really in the way for fighting,
So I doubt it would have actually made much of a difference.