Horse Survival and Travel Events

One of the staples of swashbuckling fiction is the long distance ride. We see this repeatedly in Dumas Musketeer stories. One of. D'Artagnan's notable abilities is his iron stamina in the saddle. He can stay in the saddle with little rest or sleep stopping only to change horses and if remounts are unavailable he will ride his horse to death to accomplish his mission. Famously, in the Three Musketeers he changes horses on the ride to recover the Queen's diamond studs from Buckingham. Later in The Man in the Iron Mask he arrest Fouquets following an epic chase where D'Artagnan rides his horse to death. Oddly, his riding stamina is never a focus in film. Robert E. Howard often used the ridden to death horse as a means of stranding or pushing his heroes into exploring some strange city in the desert or other odd locale in search of water and a remount.

Historically horses did die from exhaustion and overwork. So both from a genre expectation and a realistic expectation some means of simulating exhaustion on long rides is desirable.

One other idea I wanted to include was horse quality. This is something I've seen in a number of rules, Pendragon uses that along with differentiating horses by type, e.g. Cob, Palfrey, or Destrier. Black Vulmea uses horse quality as well as horse breed for his Flashing Blades campaign - see his in on his Le Ballet d'Acier web site. I've adopted the horse quality ratings he uses. I'll talk about horse breeds another time. Since you need the idea of horse quality to make sense of the Horse Survival and Events table I'll start with that.

Horse Types

Type of Horse	Base Price	Lifeblood	Trot Speed	Gallop Speed
Donkey	30 £
Mule	50 £
Pony	60 £
Cob	75 £
Draft	100 £	14+2d6	35’	70’
Riding	160 £	10+2d6	40’	80’
Cavalry	200 £	12+2d6	40’	80’

Horse Quality

Quality	Price	Hit Points	Trot	Gallop
Poor	½	– 1D6	– 5’	– 10’
Fair	x1	–	–	–
Good	x2	+ 1D6–2	+ 2’	+ 5’
Excellent	x3	+ 1D6–1	+ 5’	+ 10’
Superb	x5	+ 1D6	+ 10’	+ 20’

Horse Combat

A horse’s hit points and speed vary by type and quality. If a horse is shot, or otherwise injured, it gives the rider/coachman a Penalty Die on any rolls. A horse that is at less than half its Lifeblood will simply stop and collapse unless the rider makes a Tough (-4) Career + Flair riding roll.

Riding horses are most often used for transportation by members of the nobility and the affluent bourgeoisie; a riding horse may be pressed into service as a draft animal in order to pull a cart of a carriage, but riding horses used in this way may only trot, not run. Riding horses may not wear barding.

Cavalry horses are trained to withstand the rigors of the battlefield; they may wear barding and do not shy or startle at loud noises or strong odors. Cavalry horses are never purchased at less than Fair quality. Cavalry horses ridden by cuirassiers and gendarmes wear barding which reduces damage from attacks by two; horses ridden by carabineers wear barding which reduces damage by one. Dragoons are mounted on riding horses, not cavalry horses. If the Royal Army is on campaign, cavalry horses will be scarce.

Draft horses pull plows, carts, wagons, and carriages; they are slower but stronger than riding horses. Should a character wish to purchase them, Excellent quality draft horses are scarce and Superb draft horses are extremely rare.

For horse survival and travel events the GM can choose how frequently to roll. I roll maybe once a week or once for a multiday trip. Certain careers in Honor+Intrigue would give a bonus to the roll, e.g. Farm Boy (at last a use for that Career) or Farrier.

Horse Survival and Travel Events Table

Roll 2d6	Result
12	No Effect
11	Stone in Shoe (move penalty until stone is removed)
10	Throws a Shoe (effect)
9	Horse Lamed (effect)
8	Bad Feed (effect)
7	Exhausted -1 to rolls until rested
6	Very Exhausted -2 to rolls until rested
5	Completely Exhausted -4 to rolls until rested
4	Lose 1 level of Quality†
3	Lose 2 levels of Quality†
2	Lose 4 levels of Quality†

† If Horse Quality is decreased by Loss below Poor then the Horse Dies.

Rest and Recovery

• Easy Move decreases speed by 1/3 compared to Normal Move.
• Forced March increased distance traveled by 50% of Normal Move. 1 day of Easy Move allows a horse to recover from 1 day of Normal Move.
• 4 days of Easy Move allows a horse to recover from 1 day of Forced March.
• 1 day of Rest (no travel) allows a horse to recover from 1 day of Forced March.
• 1 day of Rest beyond recovery allows a horse to be Well Rested. 

Modifiers for Horse Survival and Travel Events

Modifiers to Roll	Condition
-1	Per extra day of Normal Move without Rest
-2	Per extra day of Forced March without Rest
-1	Poor Quality Horse
+0	Fair Quality Horse
+1	Good Quality Horse
+2	Excellent Quality Horse
+4	Superb Quality Horse
Penalty Die	Horse is Wounded
-2 and Penalty Die	Horse is Severely Wounded < ½ Lifeblood
Career Bonus Die	Character with appropriate career, e.g. Farm Boy Rider has Born-in-the-Saddle
Bonus Die	Horse started the day Well Rested

Here is a follow up on Breeds and Types of Horses for Honor+Intrigue.