> > >IMO stirrups seem like an invention to control or dominate horses
> >
> > Stirrups give the rider a stable seat, nothing else.
>
>Yes, but the whole setup can be _seen_ as tools to turn the horse into a
>reliable tool.
>
>Reason for primitives to hate the cold and logical westeners.
Possibly. But that would apply to any form of riding equipment. The main reason for saddles developing is that horses are damned uncomfortable to ride bareback for any distance. So you need blankets, furs, or similar to cushion the rider. Stirrups are a simple development of the saddle - the most innocuous of all pieces of riding equipment. Unless the pentans, etc. ride bareback, they will find stirrups the least offensive of all tools. If you want something for pentans to hate loskalmi knights for, look at spurs.
On the other hand, a culture of horse riders that view stirrups as roughly equivalent to putting training wheels on your Norton I can live with. In my glorantha it would have to be a pretty obscure group, but yours will doubtless vary...
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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