How Did Roman Cataphracts Go To War? DOCUMENTARY
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- A live action documentary on what it was like for Roman Cataphracts to go to war! Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: try.magellantv.com/invicta. Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch "Knights" about the rise of Europe's super heavy cavalry and the rest of MagellanTV’s documentary collection: www.magellantv.com/series/kni...
Check out the reenactment group Imperium Romanum: / @imperiumromanumyt
In this live history documentary we join the mounted units of history from the Roman Army. Specifically we look at the Late Roman Cataphracts who saw action along the heaviest of Roman battle zones and Roman campaigns. We begin by discussing the source of horses and the large roman logistics system required to keep even a single Roman cataphract operational. We then demonstrate the equipment of both the horse and the rider which represented a substantial monetary investment. Though this gear made them nearly unstoppable on the charge, it meant they were few in number and quick to tire which ultimately proved their Achilles heel.
For me this has been a great chance to see Roman Cataphracts in the flesh which is very hard to come by. It gives me a true appreciation for these formidable units of history and definitely makes me want to play more Mount and Blade Warband cataphract battles.
Stay tuned for more episodes of Live History which will cover other aspects of daily life in the past through Roman reenactment footage and on location aerial shots. Let us know what other topics you would like to see us cover next.
Credits
Research: Chris Das Neves
Writing: Chris Das Neves
Narration: Guy Michaels
Reenactment: Imperium Romanum
Editing: Penta Limited
#Live
#History
#Rome
We have a ton more episodes in the works with our friends at Imperium Romanum so stay tuned. In the meantime you can watch awesome episodes on their channel like this one on Roman foods: czcams.com/video/0PaORdCEFqI/video.html . What episodes do you want to see next?
fun fact: They were just a copy of a much lower quality than the Sassanid / Parthian cavalry
I am crying , this is so good
Glory to Rome
Thanks for recommending their channel. Can’t wait to binge when I’m playing total war games lol
These cataphracts would go on an actual triumph for their commander Flavius Belisarius on order of the Roman Emperor Justinian, the first one in half a millennium to be outside the imperial family, not seen since the Roman Republic.
Instantly subscribed to their channel. Can't wait to see what you all come up with.
terrifying other horses with strange equipment shouldn‘t be underestimated. Typically my riding club would put on a christmas play on horseback every year and certain pieces of costume had to be presented to the horses beforehand, so they wouldn‘t freak out later. However, we also have to remember, that a lot of modern horses are a lot more sheltered than a work horse would have been in those days. And with horses as flight animals, their amount of experience they have with new stuff is very important. Anything unknown seems dangerous to them. But even today, some horses who go out in traffic a lot, don‘t have to have seen EVERYTHING in order to not freak out over it. After a while they settle down and start trusting their riders. In short, it takes a lot of experience for a horse to just be ok with strange sights like that.
It always amazes me that horses were ever considered for war considering how skittish they are. for such large animals everything seems to terrify them
@@jakobinobles3263 Somewhere in the 70s there was a "science" show in german TV that argued we should have taken the elefant. It ran just after a Western movie and I still imagine some scenes with elefants instead of horses. Ie the "hero" jumping from the whorehous balcony onto his steed. Well okay, running since now the steeds shoulders are at first floor hight. Indians racing in circles around the wagon train....
@@jakobinobles3263 wish they had tamed the mammoth 🦣 there is one American bison that was trained as a saddle animal. European elk and American moose could have been tamed also and are big enough to carry a man.
@@benjaminwatt2469 I think there was a video from Lindybeige titled "What? You want to ride to battle on me?" or similar.
I‘m guessing that since according to a Russian study done on foxes, it takes about 40 (!) generations until a wild animal becomes domesticated to the point of being a pet, with an inbred sense of wanting to please and seeking human contact, only those animals that were manageable even in their wild state would commonly be kept around for long enough to one day make the jump from being a food source to being a working animal…
which of course means that mammoths and the like wouldn‘t have been an option. I don‘t know how the domestication of elephants got started, but other than them, usually all working animals, like horses and oxen, would have been kept for generations as strictly food sources, until some crazy person came up with the harebrained scheme of tying them to a wagon and having them pull it. And then some other delusional idiot, probably either on a wager or a bender or possibly both, got on their backs and decided to ride around. But these early examples would have been a lot smaller than modern day horses or cattle, that today we wouldn’t put anyone over the age of 12 on, so a lot more manageable by a healthy, very fit, probably male, adult person.
Armor is not there to completely block all threats, its there to stop the majority of lesser threats but also to dampen and lessen the greatest threats. Instead of receiving a crippling wound which was sure to be lethal, armor would turn it into a 'mere' injury from which recovery would be possible.
Still how armor works, bullet proof vests will stop you from being pierced by the bullet but not from the blunt impact it will create
@@killerpickle9585 Not entirely true as even lvl 4 body armor is not rated to stop armor piercing bullets above 7.62x51mm. Even the best body armor today can't stop every danger on the battlefield but the manta I stated above still holds true.
There is also a psychological component, heavy armor scares the enemy and gives your troops more confidence
@@killerpickle9585 Greek lynothorax would completely stop arrows without any bruises that’s one of the many reason of why Alexander was so successful the armour they used so far beyond there time
@@greattribulation1388
Why aim where the armor does not cover? You just accidentally proved modern battle armor is reasonably effective.
That part about frightening the enemy horses with your horse's armour is an interesting point. I had never considered that before, but it makes a lot of sense.
Sure does! Now I finally get cav units like the Sacred Band of Carthage. Huge, plumed ostrich feather chanfrons really make sense now.
Winged hussars did it
These guys are so professional, love the work!
They definitely are remarkable, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out their channel: czcams.com/video/0PaORdCEFqI/video.html
@@InvictaHistory I’m so glad I found these guys through you
Agreed, their videos on Roman life are also top notch
What a dream to have this cataphract equipment 😮
*the male fantasy*
@@SIGNOR-G What we really want to wear:
Next up : How did Hunnic Horse Archers go to war ?
MFW the best way of replicating that involves actually going to Mongolia XD
Same as their Scythian and Sarmatians and same for the Persians counterparts.
Well, they came from Mongolia! So they did the same thing that the Mongolian, Manchu, and Turkic peoples did!
this is what i call a ceritified historical classic!
Don't you mean "horse-torical"?
Mail hauberks were gradually being implemented from the 3rd century onwards but might be more limited to eastern Kataphractarii units. The problem with scale armor is the added weight and heat distribution.
When compared to mail hauberks, scale falls short heavily in heat distribution. This is important because you don’t want your Kataphractarii units to suffer from heatstroke. Mail hauberks dissipate the heat faster as the rings having plenty more openings dissipates the heat faster. Though there is a way to get rid of the issue with heat. Cloth helmet covers are placed over the helmets to prevent heat buildup.
Both riders and man cover themselves with cloth over their armor to not just disguise themselves and confuse the enemy into thinking they are light cavalry but to also prevent their armor from baking under the sun.
General Suren used this brilliant tactic in disguising his Kataphractarii units in the battle of Carrhae. From a distance none of the romans could tell they were heavy shock units until it was too late.
More limited to East ? you have the sources for this ? for heat depends, as in the West it can heat in summer too, so probably they have their ways to cool the things, also, no one really knows if the Romans try to ''disguise'' their cavalry, one enemy using one different tactic don't means much compared to the majority of Battles who the Romans fights agains the Parthians and their sucessors the Sassanids who they don't ''desguise'', so much of this is speculation, and we have reports of Romans prefering to use Mail over Scale because the comfort, same apply to renacters today, so weight is not so problematic, and worse, reports that Scale is more heavy and clumsy than Mail, and the name ''Hauberk'' is wrong, this is a Late Ancient and Medieval term and Mail who in general tend to have long sheeves like the Late Roman Army Mail, so they tend to use probably more Scale over Mail because it is cheap, aesthetically and more easy to repair than Mail, so is complex, same for Plate, who they use, but not Full Plate, it is called ''Manica'', probably only truly Heavy Cavalry will use this, not partially armored ones ones, also, depends the cloth, cotton is very common in the East like Silk compared to the West, in the case they need to use a cloth to neglect the sweat who will be caused by the heat, so much of this is pure nonsense as speculation as i say, even contradictory, no one really knows.
Heat is always the same problem - I think a mail armour would also need a subarmalis. Mail is not lighter than scale.
You might be misinterpreting modern translations that talk about "mail clad" cavalry for Eastern cataphracts. Mail clad could refer to either chainmail or scalemail because the term mail is often ambigiously used in English. The evidence suggests that Eastern cataphracts were mostly using small plate armors like scale (and later lamellar by the early medieval era) rather than chainmail. Furthermore, full plate armor is the worst form of armor for heat distribution yet full plate was still used to cover both man and horse for the most heavily armored European cavalry in the late-late Middle ages and the Rennisance. You can cover small plate, full plate, and chainmail all the same with cloth to prevent the armor from baking under the sun.
@@marcelosoaresdasilva2691 If you’re gonna be pedantic about terminology, you might as well call it ‘Hamata’ instead of mail/maille, as that too is a much later term.
God I love Channels like this on CZcams. This is where the real value of the platform is! History and science channels! It's such a wholesome and insanely in-depth community. No one ever talks shit about another, there's all kinds of really cool collaborations happening between people with academic knowledge and people with practical experience, leading to all kinds of really interesting new insights.
This was an incredibly fascinating look into the “late” Roman army and its cavalry. Almost no one seems to care about the later Roman military and they usually just deride them when they are compared to the legions of the Principate. Roman soldiers were just as tough and capable in the later periods as their earlier counterparts and it’s great to see a live reenactment of the Roman military of the Dominate period of late antiquity.
I agree. They were quite OP for their time.
The armies of Belisarius were superior to the old Legions by a country-mile. His Cataphracts, that is the Armored Mounted Archers that also used lances/swords, accompanied by the non-archer Clibanarii, were well-nigh invincible in most terrain. His cataphracts combined the shock and survivability of the armored knight with the speed and firepower of the Steppe mounted archers. The Romans still employed heavy infantry but were much more maneuver oriented and skilled at using cavalry and infantry in tandem. Belisarius' 10,000 cavalry conquered the Vandalic Kingdom where much larger armies of heavy infantry failed.
Yeah, the Late Roman Army was still a formidable force, but it faced a death of a thousand cuts: Internal political corruption, reliance on foreign mercenaries instead of auxiliaries to supplement the legions (since Caracalla made all free men Roman citizens), better-equipped and -organized barbarian factions, attacks on numerous fronts, and the loss of land (and thus tax base) to invaders and mercenaries that insisted on being compensated for their service.
That horse looks so chill about being armored up. I bet it feels nice and cozy.
I like that these collaborations with Imperium Romanum focus usually on auxiliary cultures and military logistics rather than general tactics. Giving us the overview of the cost of actually having to field and manage an army.
Indeed
Please do a video on Medieval cataphracts. They are severely underrated and underrepresented in media
one of the most versatile and underrated units in history
Why underrated? Everyone used these in some way. Arabs, Turks, Mongols and all of Europe from Spain to Russia. Heavy Cav was the King of the Battlefields up until the 19th century or even up to WWI.
@@highroller6244 yes but what i meant was in modern times when peole think of roman armies they dont really think of or mention cataphracts
@@hattorihaso2579 Ah, i see. I think you are right about that. People first think about legionaries i guess.
@@hattorihaso2579 because they tend to mix up early and late Rome
@@lamlam-bw7ev yup
Absolutely love seeing reenactors in documentaries like this, there's rarely anyone better to present this history in a practical and visual way
Seeing this video helps me visualise how the Roman cataphractoi eventually evolves into medieval knight in heavy armour.
I was always under the impression that the type of soldier you depicted was called a "clibanarius" and that they were based on the Sassanid heavy cavalry.
Nobody knows what the difference was between terms Clibanarius and Cataphractarius.We only know that there must have been some as both terms are occassionly mentioned by ancient writters together which would not make sense if those terms were completely interchangeable.Theory has it that Clibanarii were perhaps the most heavy class among Cataphracts,were both man and his horse were clad in armour while it is known that in case of Cataphracts horse was not necessarily always clad in armour and despite that it was still considered a cataphract.Clibanarii securely existed in Roman army by early 4th century and most likely already during 3rd but it is only with Constantius II when Roman heavy cavalry was reportedly reformed directly after Sassanid model.
The first time I see a historical reconstruction of a cataphract. Thank you!
How I wish your channel was around in the 07's to make history fun like it is now. ❤
Always good to see Imperium Romanum! ❤️
Love the clips with the reenactment group Imperium Romanum.
I see that you based the helmet on the Berkasovo golden helmet. That helmet is proudly exhibited in my hometown. Nice
The Imperium Romanum guys are just awesome.
This was really amazing. Would love to see more of these!
I who had been reading up about cataphracts for the past couple of hours: "A surprise to be sure but a welcome one"
I loved this video, just half a month ago I was reading about the wars of the time of Justinian I the Great and now seeing how the most important unit of his conquests is recreated, fighting within the campaigns of Belisarius and Narses, I glad to have seen it. The Roman Cataphracts were so versatile and their formations were able to successfully take on any of the enemies of their time, either from a distance or in close combat.
When I was younger I used to own and ride horses. What I could never understand was why the saddle was so slippery and also why I had to use stirrups. It wasn't mentioned in the video, but you can clearly see how the Romans didn't use stirrups and the four pillars on the saddle could be used for these ancient riders to lean over and be more secure. I just think that modern horse riding equipment is just not the same as it was back then. I would love to ride a horse with these ancient way instead. I also like how the Roman cavalry wasa encouraged to learn how to fall off properly as well as how to mount and dismount the horse. Nowadays it seems when you got to riding school they are terriefied of you falling off, so much so you never learn how to properly do it. In fact learning to fall off properly is what allows you to expand your courage and skills further.
Interesting.
Looks really authentic. Brilliant documentary series.
Love these style of videos. Thanks as always!
Amazing video. Such an excellent collaboration.
Can I make a small suggestion? I haven't seen anything directly or purely on Notitia Dignitatum on CZcams.
It's such an important document of the late Empire, it seems surprising that there is nothing really on CZcams, giving that hundreds of subjects have been covered a dozens, if not hundreds, of times.
I would love to know more but I'm too busy reading about the Scottish Dark Ages atm! 😄
I haven't found anything on CZcams, but I am fairly certain there is a full copy of the document available online, for those interested.
Great job !
What they did is really great . I hope they'll have more resources in the future to make even more of these
I always enjoy watching these videos as I write my fantasy setting based on Rome. Always great for getting the ideas flowing
That was great! Nice to see all the period armour and barding, and really interesting to hear all about how these units operated. I also watch Modern History TV which specializes in medieval history and I learned a bit about how knights went about their business and the similarities are quite eerie.
I wish the definition of 'cataphract' was included in the video description. Not all of us are familiar with these topics. And we're impatient 😉
It's a broad term which generally applies to armoured cavalry. But there were tons of variations. We've started to cover these in our Units of History series.
Don't be frusttrated, look it up. ;)
As Invicta answered above, there is no defining answer, thanks to the Roman habit of refusing to coin terminology.
Very cool video. I always love hearing what reenactors discover when putting into practice ancient technology.
Amazing video. I hope you guys collaborate more.
Thank you for sharing your Historical knowledge with us. That was Awesome.
This is fantastic! I've been wondering what these units were really like ever since ~1983 or so when I started playing WRG's "Ancients" miniatures rules and played a Tibetan army largely composed of cataphracts. Thanks!
Pls make more vids with them. Great work as always
Definitely planning on it! What topics would you like to see covered?
@@InvictaHistory could you maybe do some work on Gallienus. He had a lot of problems with the borders and this live history could best showcase them, perhaps a “day in the life of Gallienus’ mobile cavalry”
Love the work put on this video. Like to see more of these.
Cataphractii look awesome and must've been an intimidating sight on the battlefield! That kit has some serious drip
as always great quality thank you, thats so awesome !
How did Roman cataphracts go to war? Riding horses seems to be a likely theory.
This was a good one. Imagine the heaviest of these.
Thank you for this wonderful video
Well done I love these types of videos. Keep them coming please
Very well done guys!!
Thats a very well done presentation of such an interesting Roman military unit. I'm amazed
These documents are stellar content!
Great information and insight.
Wonderful! Love those more accurate history impressions.
How do they switch weapon from lance to bows/javelins (or vice versa) when mounted? Are there any straps or something to store the lance / shield on the horse?
Shields can be slung over the horns of your saddle, javelins, arrows and your bow are already strapped to your horse. You drop the lance (if you don't need it anymore because it broke) or stick it in the dirt (if you want to come back to it) or you just don't bring it in the first place, simple as that. It's a modern misconception that all troops always carried all their armaments into battle, after all, even though you own an umbrella you don't lug it everywhere on a sunny day....
The reason why the Romans have specialized cavalry for this, honestly no one really knows how a Clibanarii will do this, or if they do course.
Fantastic video! ⚔ ⚔ ⚔
Fantastic thanks
I wish I had videos like this as a kid. So good.
That was a fantastic idea! Horse armor is so rarely talked about in documentary.
Great vid
A collaboration on the Varangian Guard would be cool. Those reenactors were better than Hollywood, Great video.
Waow, waow, documentaire vraiment extraordinaire!!!
Beautiful !
Thanks !!!
Later Cataphractarii had chainmail on the horse I believe. Even on the front, where a big carpet ran down to cover even the legs.
great video.
Another good video 👍🏻
Great video always informative! Can I ask where you source the background music?
Maybe one of your best videos ever.
Beautiful video. Would be awesome to see the influence and how the Romans adapted this tactics from other cultures
You keep using imperium romanum and I will subscribe
Very cool
Excellent enjoyable educational and entertaining I'm hooked !
Awesome
4:11 It is so sad to see such a common misinformation in such a good documentary: The rings should be riveted together, instead of just closing the gap by hand which is shown here.
Good catch. I think that’s from Magellan- honestly that siege scene they showed deserved some criticism too.
Nice video about cataphract in Rome empire armies...
neat. neat to see it in the flesh too. well done
Nice video
Charging ennemy without calipers and with a simple spear (not medieval ones with armpit block) schould make thoses units less deadly than medieval ones and less stable.
Thank you for showing us this part of history!
Love it!
I really do love your vids! Glad i found imperium Romana
it always boggles my mind that many of their complex, complicated stuff (f.e. chainmail, aqueducts) were in use for centuries, but they still had no stirrups. Roughly speaking, 2 dangling somethings on the side of a horse.
Because you simply don't need them. Stirrups are overestimated in modern literature. Even in the Renaissance and Baroque period riding masters taught their students without stirrups and only after they were able to perform nearly all the exercises they received stirrups. They do help but are not mandatory. As example Georg Simon Winter von Adlersflügel 1666 I think? come to mind, as well as Manoel Carlos de Andrade 1790. I know for sure that Andrade had his students ride every exercise without stirrups first since I just read him a couple days ago ^^
Also its not just stirrups for the feet, when you put stirrups on a horse you're potentially putting all the rider's weight on those two places, and so you need a more complex harness for the saddle to properly distribute the weight, or the horse could be injured/saddle could become dislodged. Its more the harness that took time to develop.
@@peterspatling3151 Yes, you don't need them. And yes, their importance is probably inflated, by a lot. Especially when you look at sources that want to put the stirrup on the same level as the creation of the wheel or the printing press to help spread modern civilization.
But from a modern point of view, I think that it's still interesting that the romans or parthians/sasanians didn't invent them (earlier).
We know for a fact that the romans completely changed their whole military drill and equipment multiple times throughout history, and we also know they put a lot of effort to min/max the effectiveness of their troops, so even something as simple as the stirrup may have been, based on what we know about the romans, a small but simple invention to improve their troops, even if it's just by 1%.
For the parthians/sasanians, they had a pretty big number of cavalry and were famed for their horse archers and cataphracts. Again, a stirrup may have been helpful, even if it's just a very simple tool.
Now here's why in my opinion, the stirrup is really not as important (at least for most of history) as people want us to believe - We know for a fact that the macedonian companion cavalry charged head on into their enemies, lances down, on nothing more but a blanket under them. And we know for a fact that a lot of light cavalry was very effective, despite not having stirrups. The parthians and all the nomads of the eurasian steppe were able to pull off the what's now known as the parthian shot without stirrups. And the heavy cavalry of antiquity was able to do their duty without stirrups too. Otherwise it would've been invented a lot earlier. That's why I doubt the claim of those people who say that stirrups are on the same level as the wheel or the printing press, because we know for a fact (again) that the mongols would've been able to pull off their tactics without stirrups, too. It may have been easier with stirrups, but in no way did they have the impact people want us to believe they had.
Now we both talk about a time where cavalry was not as heavily armored as during the (late) middle ages, so it may be that our opinions are biased. But at least before the knights as we know them showed up, cavalry was able to do their duty without stirrups. And when the cavalry turned from heavy shock units to "light" (yes I know that the cavalry still had pretty decent armor, but not comparable to plate armor, and their tactics changed from shock unit to harassing the enemy again, hence the light) cavalry again, we have the same phenomenon that stirrups weren't necessary to do their duty. I'd really like to get a third opinion of someone who has more in-depth knowledge about the middle ages and the heavy armored knights of that period to see if stirrups were more important for those people as for the people in different time periods.
Stirrups aren't that usefull without a bucket saddle and you don't need punch out of having a bucket if you haven't spent allot of time selective breeding super powerfull horses. A Roman catapharact horse would probably be considered small buy a late medieval knight. A late medieval knight charging on a roman saddle would probably fall off his horse as soon his lance collides with something he can't pierce.
@@peterspatling3151 thank you that's really interesting.
I see a good F1 analogy in this. High performace. They are the most highly skilled and have the most expensive equipment. They have individual liveries. They even both need pit crews.
It is so interresting how the animals that are the most scared of everything are the ones that were used fo battle - horses and elephants.
Nice depiction of historical equipment and explanation of the logistics issue. However, I strongly suspect this cataphract is missing two pieces of equipment. For himself, a mail shirt with at least three-quarter length sleeves and a hem that goes to mid thigh. For his horse, some form of chest collar to protect it during a charge and also from kicks from other horses.
Correct. The vital organs of the horse are 2nd most important to protect. (First being the face, as a blinded warhorse is "retired." IE put down.)
Most cataphracts with "partial" horse armor - prioritized the front, not the rear.
Could be the reenactors just weren't finished with the costume at the time of this video's making.
(That chanfron is a work of art though!)
I knew that was the guys at Imperium Romanum from the thumbnail, a cool bunch of dudes
Great video but I fear the cavalry man needs to get more battlefield booty. I think he deserves full horse boarding and segmented grieves, mail thigh protection and segmented arm gaurds.
The problem with the 'full horse armour' is that the illustrators have been fooling us with their full neck armour. The rider is a good friend of mine and he toild me that such a stiff arour makes it impossible for the horse to more the head. Therefore it must ne a soft armour, but how to do so is hypothetical. The Dura Europos armours did not have anything like that, which is why he sticks with this solution.
Many Medieval horse armours also lack this piece.
Mail thigh protection is not better than leather. It is heavier and therefore more difficult for the horse.
Segmented ocreae were not yet normal for Roman cavalry.
I agree about the manica though, he should use it ;)
Muito bom 🇧🇷👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you for this amazing video. A small addition: clibanari had no shield and used to wear manicae and, occasionally, even face masks
I thought the face masks were only for ceremonial purposes.
sly snake face masks were used by classic roman cavalry mainly for performing elaborated manoeuvres called Hippika Gymnasia, but ellenistic, parthian, Sassanian and roman clibanari were often wearing metal face masks in combat. There are iconographical and literary sources confirming this fact.
love imperium romanum guys
lol @ that ikea stool used to mount up.
Nice
And I'm like Oh my god, new Invictus! Saturday forever!
Regarding that Knights documentary, I have doubts that knights wielded halberd headed lances while mounted.
It's shown in artwork and there are records of some doing it. There's nothing in particular preventing knights from carrying this kind of weapon. In any case, if you look at other cultures, halberds, glaives, and various other polearm-headed lances are very commonly used. The Chinese were using these types of weapons all the way to WW2.
@@andrewsuryali8540 I've yet to find any historical depictions of european knights using polearms, or weapons resembling polearms while mounted (except lances of course), though I am aware that the Chinese apparently did this, as well as the stranger weapons shown used two-handed in the Maciejowski Bible, though I'd be very interested if you could provide some links to such depictions.
any idea what breed of horse was used in this video? nice looking mount.
it's incredible how many pieces of leather and equipment hang so low they almost touch the feet of the rider and yet nobody thought of the stirrups
stirrups are only necessary for huge horses, and for couch lancing, they're overrated
1:25 .... That castle seige on a documentary service is better then Hollywood. Wow!
I think this underestimates the amount of armour that late Roman heavy cavalry used - but it does make the vital point about armoured horse shoes, without such protection a horse could be crippled by cheap caltrops (bits of sharpened metal) on the battlefield.
Can’t imagine the amount of total work in the making any of these armor types. From miners to smiths, plus the growers of raw materials for cloth, dye, paint, etc etc etc. and you haven’t even started making armor yet, just gathering materials!!!
Cool hobby
I'm just imagining Cataphracts swapping out horses mid battle in a rapid and fluid manner like a modern day pit stop for Nascar