User talk:Sandman30s

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[edit] User:RdeVjun/Sandbox

Hi, many thanks for alerting me to the category problems in my sandbox. I was playing around with it a while back, probably got distracted halfway through something (in all honesty, I can´t really remember what it was that I was actually doing) and never got back to it. Anyway, I have fairly well lost interest in that particular article, so I cleared it out and life goes on! Cheers. RdeVjun (talk) 03:42, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Horses

I've added a response at your ref desk question about horses, but thought I'd also point you in the direction of User:Montanabw who's active on the horse pages here, and has unfailingly responded to all my (very many) horse questions, and is just the person to keep your book's horses in order. Say I sent you: you'll get all the answers you want, and I'll get any blame owing for distracting her from WP editing! :) Gwinva (talk) 05:15, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Gwinva :) Sandman30s (talk) 13:36, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

And...here I am! So, onto your questions:

  • Hi Montanabw, Gwinva pointed me to your expertise on horses. I recently posted a few questions on the language desk, but I received some satisfactory answers and don't really want to repeat them here. I've been writing a fantasy book and an important character in it is a unicorn that has a special relationship with the main character, a young wizard. I would like your opinion on how a unicorn should be 'handled'. I am currently writing about him as a magnificent white muscular horse with a spiral horn and a unique ability to be able to talk to this wizard telepathically (although I don't use that word specifically) in somewhat broken English. The unicorn, whom I call Shandar, sometimes whinnies in happiness, nuzzles up to the wizard to show affection, and raises his forelegs (is that called rearing?) when excited. He also has the ability to phase between light and solid so as to travel without touching the ground, for example fly over the ocean. There are other elements in the book, for example medieval cavalry and the general use of horses by farmers etc., so any pointers would be appreciated. Thank you! Sandman30s (talk) 13:46, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  1. First off, some of your questions on general uses of horses in history can be answered in a couple wonderful articles Gwinva helped with, Horses in warfare and Horses in the Middle Ages. These are extensively researched and are Good articles by the wiki standard.
  2. Next, wiki has some other useful articles that may give you some basics that could help. They aren't perfect, but I helped get the blatently bad stuff out of them and so, to the best of my knowledge, what's in them is pretty accurate, if not made of sparkling prose! These include [[[horse behavior]], stallion (horse) (about boy horses), mare (horse) (about girl horses), and maybe horse training. I have had less to do (as in little or nothing) with cavalry, but there may be some useful stuff there. History of the horse in South Asia is another article I haven't worked on, but has some interesting stuff.
  3. As for rearing and such, you may want to compare rearing to levade, one is untrained behavior and the other is a very highly trained equestrian skill.
  4. I would be glad to answer any specific questions about "medieval cavalry" and "use of horses by farmers", and in particular, Gwinva and I did a bunch of research (which we haven't found a use for) on how far horses can travel, depending on whether they are with armies, ordinary travelers, endurance records, one day, day after day travel, etc. So toss out whatever you are wondering about and I can see what we can find. If it's horse behavior, ask me; if it's medieval history, ask Gwinva.
  5. Oh, also, to describe your unicorn, you may want to compare White (horse) to Gray (horse). Gray horses are far more common, they have white hair (when adults) but black skin -- most people call them "white" but they aren't. True white horses have pink skin and blue (or sometimes brown) eyes. And there are no albinos in horses (pink skin/red eyes), the white horse article explains why. And another article about horse breeds that may resemble your unicorn by being muscular and powerful, see Lipizzan and Andalusian horse. They both are of a subtype we sometimes call Baroque horse. Oh, and of course, for a little lighter, more refined breed, see also everyone's favorite fairy tale horse, the Arabian horse.

Hope this helps! Drop me a line again if you have questions. Montanabw(talk) 23:55, 10 June 2008 (UTC)