Horses

I have a character who I want to get caught in a lie. I'm thinking he's pretending he knows about horses, but he really doesn't know all that much.

The problem is, this is set in the 1400s, so I don't know if the things I know about horses even apply.

Any ideas?

Use cribbing. It is unique to domesticated horses and has been dated back around 10,000 years ago, if I remember correctly. Long before they originally thought horses were domesticated.

They crib, chew on wood, because they are bored. You could have your character swear the horse does it because it's angry or whatever. Best of luck.

I'm not an experienced rider, and you don't say the region (Western-Europe? Asia? America? -- it matters for riding style), but for what it's worth, you might do some research about:

1. Tack (saddle and harness). Rigging up a horse isn't that obvious: You might figure it out, but your character's ignorance might also show, especially with medieval tack and if the horse weren't cooperative.

2. Husbandry/care. I don't know if the practice will apply for your story, but perhaps a horse in question needs to be re-shod or have its hoof trimmed or clipped. You're not going to figure that out on your own.

3. Riding. The appearance of a horse under a skilled rider has a nuance -- they're just one. Rider and horse move together in a way that cannot possibly be faked; horses will not "pretend".

For what it's worth, my first time riding a horse over an open field at full gallop was thrilling, and terrifying. You crouch up in the saddle, hold on for dear life, and the thing just goes with a will literally of its own. It's like the lay of your life with looming instant death instead of climax. The face of an experienced rider wouldn't show that emotion in the same way.

Easy! He can put the wrong foot in the stirrup!

Aliza Z

I'm not sure if this is what ABZ18 meant...

A horse should always be mounted from a certain side (I think it's the left side but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Anyone mounting a horse from the incorrect side would immediately be branded as inexperienced.

Thanks for the clarification Violator! My aunt used to own a pasofino ranch and she was always was very patient with all our faux pas! Yes, including mounting on the wrong side. I also remember a cousin of ours putting quite literally the wrong foot in the stirrup and winding up sitting on the horse backwards! He was facing the horse tush! He also twisted the stirrup straps, it was hilarious!

ABZ18

ABZ, I thought you might be referring to someone sitting in the saddle backwards. Never seen anyone do it in real life but I'm sure it would look pretty funny.

Either scenario would would, it just depends on the tone/genre of the story.

Anyone mounting a horse from the incorrect side would immediately be branded as inexperienced.

I was under the impression that anyone mounting a horse from the wrong side would be thrown before he could even get his butt in the saddle. But I can't confirm that that's true.

And for the record, it is the left side. I had heard that it had to do with knights wearing their swords on the left side (making it impossible to mount from the right side), but that could just be another myth.

What part of the world? If Europe, what part of Europe? There were different riding schools, different breeds used for different things, etc., and then there's tack and riding and driving styles. Depending on who your character is may help decide what he or she would try to bluff with.

Someone trying to claim to be an expert rider may talk about a certain breed (Percherons or Lippizaners or Fjords) or school (the Spanish School), while someone whose lying about driving may talk about driving a four-in-hand or unicorn hitch or a whiffle tree---or even refer to a yoke instead of a collar.

Someone trying to talk about horses as a way of saying he or she is rich may talk about a certain carriage, but mispronounce it, like calling a vis-a-vis (pronounced veez-ah-vee) a viss-uh-viss or something. Or brog-ham instead of brome for brougham.

(Don't use any of these though, because they don't fit the time period. Well, the collar thing does, but your character would have to be somebody who knew something about oxen rather than horses.)

I have a friend who is an expert on the subject and a nutcase about the historical stuff about horses, tack, carriages, etc. I'd be happy to ask her. She has been known to sit through the most horrible historical dramas just to look at the horses, gear, and riding styles and see if the moviemakers got it right (they usually don't).

Thanks for your ideas. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to
do. It's set in 1469 Spain. The big fat liar is a Moorish
Sultan. It's kind of a minor detail but important because I think
he has to lie about something, so I was thinking
he could pretend he knew all this about horses, and my
female character could know more and catch him in the lie.
But since it's the 1400s, he definitely is going to know
a few things about horses--he has to use them for
transportation. So I'm not sure if it's even going to work.
Also, I was thinking it wasn't going to be this huge running
thing. Just one of many quick and easy little lies. Most of the
time, I'm hoping he won't have to lie. He just won't reveal
all the information. (?)

Anyway... thanks.