Clive Owens Excalibur

A stirrup allows you to stand up in the saddle to handle a lance, shield,or what ever weapon while moving without it,it is very hard to stay on a horse without falling off. In a cavalry charge it allows you to stand up lean forward into the lance. Using a bow stand up so you won't bounce and ruin your aim.

i know i could carve and mold the fittings, but blades i am not up on just as of yet...
paladin do you have a link to the ebay sword? we could tear something apart and build it back up...

Have you rode a horse I have with and without a saddle. Without a stirrup see it is hard it is to shift your weight one side to the other without falling off. Take a good hard swing with something weight without a saddle and stirrup see how hard it is to stay on. No you can't complete eliminate bonce but you can get rid of alot of it with stirrups. To rope you stand up in the stirrup to get rid of as much bonce as you can so you can get an accurate throw.

If some managed to stike a blow to your person you will fall off without a stirrup. You have a good chance of staying on with them.

I'm certain it's the horns(?) that allow you to brace, less so the stirrups.

M.

I know the roman cavalry didn't use stirrups, they only had a saddle with four horns. These horns kept them from falling when swinging a sword and a shield. So even without stirrups a trained rider is perfectly capable of fighting.

@fallen, yes, I have ridden a horse before. It's been awhile, but I used to be pretty good. Both with and without tack. Jumping, cross country and Jr. Steeple Chase. And since I was a kid, I played swordfighting with sticks with my sisters from horseback (my little brother was too little).
The stirrup DOES make mounted fighting easier. But is not necessary with the sole exception of the lance.

m. Eversberg II, try to brace in that saddle without stirrups for a lance charge and you'll break your back. You're talking about a head-on collision at 30+ mph (for each side if it's cavalry vs cavalry) in something that weighs about as much as your average American sedan. And the entire impact is channelling through your body. No air-bag. No seat-belt. No crumple zone. Just you.

@cheness. Absolutely correct. The Mongols, too. No stirrups and only elementary saddles for that race of horse warriors.
Come to think of it, the American Indian did pretty well fighting from horseback -- axe, spear, club, bow and rifle -- without stirrups, too.

Again, the ONLY style of mounted combat that Requires stirrups, is the lance. All of the others are Helped by it. But only the Lance requires it. Every army that had stirrups used lancers. Throughout all of history. Stirrups means lancers. No lancers means no stirrups (sole exception being the US Cavalry, we never had lancers).