Horses

Horses are four-legged mammals which have been domesticated throughout the Known World for use as beasts of burden, mounts in war, and simply for transport.

Horses are prominently used as war mounts by the armored knights of Westeros, whose heavy horse charges can devastate many times their number of infantry.

In Essos, the Dothraki mounted hordes of the central plains center their entire culture and society around their horses. Unlike Westerosi knights, the Dothraki favor fast, unarmored cavalry, allowing for lightning-fast strikes and greater mobility.

In the books
Horses are ubiquitous in the medieval societies present in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Only a few cultures do not rely prominently on horses, often due to an island location. The Iron Islands in particular make little use of horses, instead traversing their islands in boats, though they do have a least a few horses on the isles for basic transport. The ironborn do not make use of horses as mounts in warfare. Similarly, horses are uncommon in the Free City of Braavos, because it is a city of canals (somewhat like Venice or Bruges in real life) spread out across many small islands linked together by bridges. In the Free City of Volantis, the inhabitants prefer to use a species of dwarf elephant (which lives in its warmer southern climate) to draw carts, which fill the city. Normal large elephants are also not uncommon in Volantis, though horses can also be seen there.

A male horse which has been castrated is known as a "gelding" ("to geld" being another way of saying "to castrate"). Castrating a male horse makes it less hormonal and easier to handle. Uncastrated horses are known as stallions, which grow larger than geldings but also more aggressive. Female horses are known as mares.

The books give considerably more detail about what specific breeds of horses are ridden by different characters, based on the historical terms for the use of horses in warfare:


 * Destrier - the largest, most majestic breed of horses, used by wealthy knights in Tournaments. They can be used as war horses, but it is considered a waste to risk the life of such an expensive animal.
 * Courser - lighter than destriers, but still a very large and powerful horse. Coursers are the breed most commonly used by wealthy knights in warfare, and also in tournament jousts.
 * "Charger" - generic and interchangeably term for a "war horse", of any breed.
 * Palfrey - bred for stamina, palfreys are not intended for warfare but for long riding journeys. Even wealthy knights and royalty will use palfreys for long-distance travel.
 * Garron - specifically bred for cold, snowy climates and rough terrain, which even destriers and palfreys would have difficulty with. Frequently used by the Night's Watch at the Wall.
 * Rounsey - a strong and capable horse, but a mutt not produced by formal breeding. Frequently used by poorer knights, squires, mounted men-at-arms, and sometimes as pack animals.
 * Stot - an inferior horse. Both rounseys and stots have no specific breeding.  Unbred horses are judged to be a "rounsey" if they turn out strong, but as "stots" if they turn out to be runts incapable of heavy work.
 * Pony - a breed that is intentionally small when fully grown. Usually intended for riding by children of the nobility.
 * Mule - hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, valued for their endurance at non-combat tasks. They are meant for labor, and they can be ridden, but not for combat (the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey is known as a "hinny", but is smaller and less strong than a mule, and thus not bred as often).
 * Dray - also known as "plow horses", they are strong and meant for heavy labor. They are strong enough to be ridden, but usually are not a good choice for combat.

There are also several varieties of horse in the narrative that have no direct real-life counterparts:


 * Dornish Sand Steed - intended as war horses, but bred for stamina instead of strength, meaning that they cannot support the weight of a fully armored rider. Due to Dorne's desert climate, the style of warfare used by the Dornishmen developed differently from the rest of Westeros.  Armored knights riding heavy armored horses would quickly bake in the desert sun and suffer from thirst.  Warfare in Dorne therefore developed to center around light, fast attacks by smaller numbers, so that they will not overheat or exhaust the available water supply.  At most, a Dornish rider would only wear light armor, thus Sand Steeds are not required to support this much weight.  Sand Steeds are smaller and narrower than normal warhorses, slim even compared to palfreys (also bred for stamina), but are very graceful.  Famed for their stamina, Sand Steeds can run a day and a half without tiring.
 * Zorse - a domesticated, apparently zebra-like animal from far eastern Essos, from the plains of the Jogos Nhai which are located beyond the Dothraki Sea. They are rarely encountered in Westeros or even the Free Cities.  Several members of the sellsword company known as the Brave Companions ride zorses, and when they took a contrast to come to Westeros to fight in the War of the Five Kings, they brought their unusual mounts with them.