> how is there not a whole class of medieval weapons that were focused on taking out the horse rather than the rider? Spears, pikes, halberds - the best way of

> how is there not a whole class of medieval weapons that were focused on taking out the horse rather than the rider? Spears, pikes, halberds - the best way of countering cavalry was a thick hedge of pokey sticks, deep and massy enough to counter the shock of the charge. A big part of the effectiveness of longbowmen was not through directly killing knights and men-at-arms with their arrows, but injuring and killing their horses out from underneath them - then wading in with mauls and axes to beat on the bogged down chivalry. A maul swung by a man trained to draw an English longbow would make a head, even in a helmet, look like a watermelon that Gallagher got into. Other anti-cavalry methods were decidedly unsexy and low-tech. Form up at the top of a hill, or behind a swampy, wet muddy area. Prepare the battle site by digging potholes for a horse to step in and break a leg, scatter caltrops, sharpened stakes, logs and rocks to injure the horses and disrupt formations.