How far is it possible, or at least feasible, for a character to travel in a day?

Most relevant would be travel on a horse. Can the horse walk continuously? Does it need regular breaks? If traveling over a long period of time, does it needs days off in order to rest and recuperate?
I know very little about horses...
Oh, and would it be necessary to have one horse to ride and one pack horse? Or can one horse carry the man and the pack?

Travel on foot would also be useful, or in a horse-drawn cart.

Travel via any form of modern transport (cars, ships etc.) would be slightly irrelevant, but please put it down if you have any idea, because I'd just be interested...

THanks for your help :D.

Dang it, where's my grandpa when I need him? He used to drive cattle on the desert, and has vast experience with that. Let's see what I can remember. I do know that if a horse is in good condition and used to hard work they can keep up a trot for most of the day, if they have appropriate rest and water stops. You can cover a very large distance in that way. In that way it's like people, some can run a marathon, and some can't even run a quarter mile. As for needing a pack horse, I guess it all depends on what kind of traveling you're doing. If you're doing say a hundred miles are you going to do it in one day or a week? If you do it in a day you wouldn't need anything more than food and water. If you had any kind of extra gear it would be completely impossible. I'm not sure if you could do a hundred miles in a day, but if you did, it would be very hard on the horse, and the rider sure wouldn't enjoy it either. The longer you travel the more gear you need. More gear slows you down quite a bit. Other things that would take more time is if you have to stop and hunt.

On foot, I can do five miles over rough terrain with a fourty pound pack in just a couple hours, and I'm about average as far as fitness goes. That pack will hold everything I need for at least three days camping, except for the water.

Leo.

To tell you the truth, you are not providing anywhere near enough info to give you an accurate or viable answer. - you really need to explain what you are looking for. Seriously.

Also I think this should be in the research section or something.

Here is something to consider: In colonial times Military could make about 20 - 25 miles a day traveling in formation.

However just to put things into perspective, the marathon was run (26.2 miles) in 2 hours, 5 min and 38 seconds by Khalid Khannouchi, while it should be noted that horses can run the same distance (26 miles) in just about half the time.

Cars have been known to travel at 250 miles per hour, boats I believe around 30 mph and jets can travel something like three times the speed of sound.

What are you looking for? (be specific)

I'm not sure if you could do a hundred miles in a day, but if you did, it would be very hard on the horse, and the rider sure wouldn't enjoy it either.

It is possible for a house to travel 100 miles in a day with a rider, but not while herding cattle.

One cheating way of doing it would bewriting your travelled distances in leagues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_%28unit%29). As it says on wiki, it originated as a rough guide to the distance a person/horse could walk each hour. For a human walking, simply have how many hours you imagine them to walk in a day and have them travel that many leagues, or decide how fast you want your horses to be moving (although im not sure if they can really run for a great length of time without exhaustion, so it might be better to just have them walk) and say the distance in leagues. And the league unit wouldnt seem out of place in medieval style fantasy or medieval fiction (which i assume you are going for because of the horse).

If you want to express it in miles, you could basically just convert it to roughly 3 and a half miles an hour, depending on the terrain or how fast you want your horses to be going.

I dont know much about horses, but i know that you're more likely to be criticised for having them travel impossible distances or go impossibly long without rest than you are for having them rest too much. So unless it hinders your plot greatly, it'd probably be wise to play it safe; have your horses take breaks, and have a pack horse.

Whole days off i dont think would be needed, but it probably shouldnt be travelling all day unless your characters are trying to move extremely fast and are willing to put great strain on the horses / allow them to die from exhaustion.

And if you want to be travelling great distances, or to be carrying a lot of stuff, then i'd say your definately better off having a pack horse as well, particularly if you dont have a supply of food from villages or hunting or something while on the road.

If you're walking it's possible to get at least 50 mile in.

One cheating way of doing it would bewriting your travelled distances in leagues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_%28unit%29). As it says on wiki, it originated as a rough guide to the distance a person/horse could walk each hour. For a human walking, simply have how many hours you imagine them to walk in a day and have them travel that many leagues, or decide how fast you want your horses to be moving (although im not sure if they can really run for a great length of time without exhaustion, so it might be better to just have them walk) and say the distance in leagues. And the league unit wouldnt seem out of place in medieval style fantasy or medieval fiction (which i assume you are going for because of the horse).

If you want to express it in miles, you could basically just convert it to roughly 3 and a half miles an hour, depending on the terrain or how fast you want your horses to be going.

I dont know much about horses, but i know that you're more likely to be criticised for having them travel impossible distances or go impossibly long without rest than you are for having them rest too much. So unless it hinders your plot greatly, it'd probably be wise to play it safe; have your horses take breaks, and have a pack horse.

Whole days off i dont think would be needed, but it probably shouldnt be travelling all day unless your characters are trying to move extremely fast and are willing to put great strain on the horses / allow them to die from exhaustion.

And if you want to be travelling great distances, or to be carrying a lot of stuff, then i'd say your definately better off having a pack horse as well, particularly if you dont have a supply of food from villages or hunting or something while on the road.

This is a very informative and insightful post.

Also, even if a horse can trot for a full day solid, would I be correct in saying that the rider would need to rest quite a lot. I tried trotting on my friends horse once and its hard work!

you need to state what kind of terrain it's traveling over and what the climate/weather is like... as well as the age and physical condition of walker, animal/s and cart...

you're asking for specific info, but not supplying the parameters without which informed opinions can't be rendered...

first off is the rider experienced. If so and he has a good horse assume that he is gonna travel roughly 80 miles a day. That is mixing it up between pushing the horses early in the day taking a break not pushing them hard in the heat of the afternoon, and just a little harder a few hours before sunset. You could do over a hundred miles in a day but would need a horse to switch cause the horse you rode would not be good again for a day or two. I think this is accurate but do not quote me a hundred percent. If you think about it though it makes sense. I can go a mile in 20 minutes walking. that would be 3 miles an hour and i know a horse can do ten miles an hour as comfortably as i do 3. so given that most would travel only an 8 hour day on horse back i believe that is accurate. Also i have been on a highway and horses can get up to 40 mph at a full gallop and can sustain that for a good ways

I know it's obnoxious sometimes to post a link and not offer any real, original thought, but this writer covers horses in fantasy quite well. Skim down a few paragraphs and there will be a part on the distance horses can travel.

http://fantasy.fictionfactor.com/articles/horses.html

It's not that hard to ride a trot, actually, when you've ridden a little and an experienced rider can do it as long as the horse can (men find it more uncomfortable). If your character is not an experienced rider, than he'll be incredibly sore. Unless the horse is something like an arabian (bred for endurance) than running for long distances is unlikely. Unless it's a heavy horse (think Budweiser horses) one person and one or two saddlebags (say, two hunderd and fifty pounds) would be all it could be expected to carry for long days.
At a walk, the horse can go 3-4 mph and would be able to work long hours for days on end. At a trot, 8-10 mph and they would need a good rest every couple of days. A canter, 10-17 mph and most horses wouldn't be able to maintain an entire day at this pace.
Most horse travelling was done at a walk or trot. If you've got a horse cart, then the horse would need to go no faster than a slow trot to maintain that over a long distance. And multiple horses would be much more practical for that purpose.
(The riding also depends on what type of saddle used, but since it's a fantasy world, you can make that to your convience. Generally for travelling, bigger, more comfortable saddles are prefered.)
If it's a warm climate, look at Quarter horses and Morgans; a colder one, Fresians or European ponies like the Haflinger; for endurance or really hot climates, I'd look at the Arabian and the Barb; if you're going to use the cart concept, Clydestales or Shires should do.
(Eech. This got a little in-depth..Oh, well.)
I can probably answer most questions you have about horses...

It is possible for a house to travel 100 miles in a day with a rider, but not while herding cattle.

That is awesome. I would like to get on my roof and maybe go to the store. It'd be like Snoopy... only with a real house, and machine guns attached. You never know when you'll see house robbers on the trail.

Wow, great answers guys! Very useful!

Sorry, if there wasn't enough detail, but I didn't have time to write the post in as much detail as I wanted. I'll give you some here:

The rider is in his late 20s/early 30s, and has ridden a little before, but isn't an experienced traveler, and has rarely traveled any great distance before. However, he is in good physical condition.

I imagine he'll over-pack seeing as he's inexperienced and doesn't know what he'll need, and besides, he has a generous expenses fund from his clients, for whom he is pursuing someone. Hence, he might need a pack-horse as well.

He's not a particularly warm or compassionate person, so I don't think pushing a horse to its absolute limits wouldn't be beyond his flimsy moral values.

He will be stopping at towns and villages along the way, to pick up the trail of the people he is pursuing and so forth, so changing horses isn't out of the question, and he would only need to carry a few days worth of food at a time.

I like the hunting idea as well, I might use that.

Terrain wise, I imagine he'll be following fairly well-used dirts track and the like, or else traveling over plains.

What else do you need to know?

Last1Left: Thanks for that article, just read though it and it was very useful :D.

Will definitely be using some of that.

Topper: Might take you up on that offer, I imagine I'll be coming up with plenty of horse-related questions pretty soon :)

One cheating way of doing it would bewriting your travelled distances in leagues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_%28unit%29). As it says on wiki, it originated as a rough guide to the distance a person/horse could walk each hour. For a human walking, simply have how many hours you imagine them to walk in a day and have them travel that many leagues, or decide how fast you want your horses to be moving (although im not sure if they can really run for a great length of time without exhaustion, so it might be better to just have them walk) and say the distance in leagues. And the league unit wouldnt seem out of place in medieval style fantasy or medieval fiction (which i assume you are going for because of the horse).

If you want to express it in miles, you could basically just convert it to roughly 3 and a half miles an hour, depending on the terrain or how fast you want your horses to be going.

I dont know much about horses, but i know that you're more likely to be criticised for having them travel impossible distances or go impossibly long without rest than you are for having them rest too much. So unless it hinders your plot greatly, it'd probably be wise to play it safe; have your horses take breaks, and have a pack horse.

Whole days off i dont think would be needed, but it probably shouldnt be travelling all day unless your characters are trying to move extremely fast and are willing to put great strain on the horses / allow them to die from exhaustion.

And if you want to be travelling great distances, or to be carrying a lot of stuff, then i'd say your definately better off having a pack horse as well, particularly if you dont have a supply of food from villages or hunting or something while on the road.

Cheers, I didn't know that about leagues.

And you hit the nail on the head, I don't want to be criticized for doing something unrealistic. I want to make the story, if not particularly realistic, at least believable.

Also I think this should be in the research section or something.



There's a research section?!

Wow, great answers guys! Very useful!

Sorry, if there wasn't enough detail, but I didn't have time to write the post in as much detail as I wanted. I'll give you some here:

The rider is in his late 20s/early 30s, and has ridden a little before, but isn't an experienced traveler, and has rarely traveled any great distance before. How, he is in good physical condition.

I imagine he'll over-pack seeing as he's inexperienced and doesn't know what he'll need, and besides, he has a generous expenses fund from his clients, for whom he is pursuing someone. Hence, he might need a pack-horse as well.

He's not a particularly warm or compassionate person, so I don't think pushing a horse to its absolute limits would be beyond his flimsy moral values.

He will be stopping at towns and villages along the way, to pick up the trail of the people he is pursuing and so forth, so changing horses isn't out of the question, and he would only need to carry a few days worth of food at a time.

I like the hunting idea as well, I might use that.

Terrain wise, I imagine he'll be following fairly well-used dirts track and the like, or else traveling over plains.

What else do you need to know?


If he has not ridden much before I would not worry about the horses being pushed so much - anyone who has ridden a horse, no matter their physical condition, for any amount of time would relate that it makes you very, very sore.

After the first ten miles he'll want to stretch his legs, after the first two days, he'll be walking a little stiffly. This allows, however, to subtly show the reader character development as you pepper details of his easing into being an experienced rider - that will add more realism than getting mileage correct.

In fact, a good example of an author who has fantastic character development is Glen Cook in his "Black Company" series. I used to read alot of fantasy and science fiction - he's no Zelazny, but he has a great way of drawing you in and bringing a story to maturity.

http://www.writing-world.com/sf/horses.shtml

That's a great article about horses. Hope it helps.

If he has not ridden much before I would not worry about the horses being pushed so much - anyone who has ridden a horse, no matter their physical condition, for any amount of time would relate that it makes you very, very sore.

After the first ten miles he'll want to stretch his legs, after the first two days, he'll be walking a little stiffly. This allows, however, to subtly show the reader character development as you pepper details of his easing into being an experienced rider - that will add more realism than getting mileage correct.

In fact, a good example of an author who has fantastic character development is Glen Cook in his "Black Company" series. I used to read alot of fantasy and science fiction - he's no Zelazny, but he has a great way of drawing you in and bringing a story to maturity.

I like that idea actually. It will help me show a different side to his character, and make him more human. Thanks.
It will also mean I can extend the time between him setting off and him catching up with his "prey".

There's a research section?!

Yah, (http://www.writingforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=39) but given how much activity it gets, it might as well not exist.

Anyway, given what you have put out, standard would be 20 - 25 as I would imagine he would be riding a quarter horse, or perhaps a Morgan if one was available.

Note horses can get rather ornery when "pushed hard" by people that do not know what they are doing. Only truly experienced riders can drive their horses greater distances.

Since he will be inexperienced he will want to walk most of the time with perhaps just a trotting if spooked or in a rush and if he is feeling risky he might canter.

Riding a horse is a unique feeling and experience.

It is not at all like riding a bike or anything like people see in the movies.

There's a research section?!

Yah, (http://www.writingforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=39) but given how much activity it gets, it might as well not exist.

Aww, c'mon now.

If you use it, they will come.

What could be done would be to research the movement of troops before, during and after the battles of the U.S. Civil War that took place in the 1860s.

Although some took place via train and river, there was cavalry that scouted and most of the units marched, sometimes force, sometimes not. It would give a good guide.

Through diaries from the generals down to the privates, and also official reports and documents, I believe the information sought could be gleaned. In addition, a variety of terrain would be involved. Such has been translated into the history books. Try The Battle Cry of Freedom (http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Cry-Freedom-Civil-War/dp/0345359429) by James McPherson for starters. I read it years ago, and it should be available at a local library.

Also, as an aside: during the times of the cattle drives in the American West, a cowboy had more than one horse (generally three if I accurately recall), as they could not expect on one to carry them and do the job on their own--although driving cattle would be much harder on a horse (and rider) than travel. I got that from notes somewhere after reading (or watching) Lonesome Dove (http://www.amazon.com/Lonesome-Dove-Larry-McMurtry/dp/067168390X/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217360902&sr=1-2) by Larry McMurtry, also likely available at a local library, but while a great read, probably not as directly applicable to the research for the project under discussion.

Terry

Aww, c'mon now.

If you use it, they will come.

Give me some credit here - I at least mentioned it and I only 64 posts.

(I also posted in it)

Yah, Terry, I was thinking of settler migrations in covered wagons, too.

Troop movements would not be entirely limited by animal travel speed or terrain. because opposing armies are a perhaps dominant factor for a reasonably prudent general.

Cattle drives are probably more reasonable. Settlers would want to minimize travel times and supply consumption, but wagons could really slow them down.

Stagecoach runs are probably a decent model for sustained travel speeds though.

caravans (covered wagons) in the colonial times did only about 10 - 12 miles in a day but the normal walking distance for a horse drawn wagon was roughly 7 miles, for a total of 14 miles in the day.

Mainly the speed was so slow because there was a great deal of walking, children, families and things like that.

Military distances were marching, 20 - 25 for determined troops.

A normal person can only realistically walk about 6 miles in a day with out conditioning.

A normal person can only realistically walk about 6 miles in a day with out conditioning.

That seems awfuly low to me. Last year I was walking ten or more miles a day in the middle of summer with no problems, and I hadn't done any special conditioning. For quite a while before that I had been biking a lot though, so mabey that made a difference. Either way, unless the character was a nobleman or something I would expect him to be in good enough shape to walk longer than that.

P.S. This is an awsome thread. I never would have thought there would be so much good info out there. I really liked that site that someone posted.

That seems awfuly low to me. Last year I was walking ten or more miles a day in the middle of summer with no problems, and I hadn't done any special conditioning.

I would wager that you worked up to that 10 miles, it was not you just started at 10 miles and ended at 10 miles.

We are talking about normal "First Timers" going for a "Long Walk" anyone that has done some level of endurance work or fitness training, working out in the gym counts, has done "Special Training"

Kind of. I went from biking that distance to walking it because I had a friend with me and his knee started hurting, so the doctor told him to stay off the bike for a couple months. It wasn't excercise, it was travel, so I had to cover the distance regardless.

[QUOTE=Leo;249168]


The rider is in his late 20s/early 30s, and has ridden a little before, but isn't an experienced traveler, and has rarely traveled any great distance before. How, he is in good physical condition.



Terrain wise, I imagine he'll be following fairly well-used dirts track and the like, or else traveling over plains.

QUOTE]

The first time I went on a long ride, 6 miles+, I could barely walk the next day, and I'd done light riding before. But after a few days, the soreness will go away.
Dirt tracks and plains are really easy on horses. And horses are likely not to respond well to long rides unless they're horses trained for travelling. But he doesn't need to be a good rider to push a horse to the limit...he just needs a good set of spurs or a crop or even a branch (this is fiction, right?)
Anyway, if he ends up needing to move faster or goes through dangerous terrain, it was common enough for travellers to throgh out unnecessary items on the side of the road.

Aww, c'mon now.

If you use it, they will come.

I found it, but it's quite well hidden, which might explain why it's not very busy :)

[QUOTE=Leo;249168]


The rider is in his late 20s/early 30s, and has ridden a little before, but isn't an experienced traveler, and has rarely traveled any great distance before. How, he is in good physical condition.



Terrain wise, I imagine he'll be following fairly well-used dirts track and the like, or else traveling over plains.

QUOTE]

The first time I went on a long ride, 6 miles+, I could barely walk the next day, and I'd done light riding before. But after a few days, the soreness will go away.
Dirt tracks and plains are really easy on horses. And horses are likely not to respond well to long rides unless they're horses trained for travelling. But he doesn't need to be a good rider to push a horse to the limit...he just needs a good set of spurs or a crop or even a branch (this is fiction, right?)
Anyway, if he ends up needing to move faster or goes through dangerous terrain, it was common enough for travellers to throgh out unnecessary items on the side of the road.

Thank you, very useful :D

I imagine he'll have over-packed, and will have plenty to throw away.
Which would make it easy to have him tracked by anyone "hunting the hunter".

Cheers.

The guy's in reasonably good shape, but is more used to short sprints that long distance movement.

So I imagine if he had to walk any distance on foot, (perhaps he worked his horse into the ground and it couldn't go any further) then he would be able to walk on foot to the nearest civilization without too much difficulty.

As for the US Civil War stuff, I'll definitely look into it, but I'm British, so I don't know much more about the war than that which I picked up whilst playing on 'Gun'. :)

I have some questions.

Does it really matter how far he travels in a day?

Allow me to explain: If the bad guy has a two day head start and it takes the hero three days to catch the bad guy people will just accept that as plausible.

Come to think of it, if the bad guy has a two day head start and hero catches them in a day, people would find that acceptable as the "hero is more driven then the bad guy" or a varied number of excuses.

Unless you are writing a story about travel and the realism of distance becomes a major issue IE: "The Adventures of Bob Lost on his 237.63 Mile Hike to Noplacespecial"

You can loosely toss about 50 miles a day at people and most of them won't blink. It seems rational and believable. You could toss 75 if you made it look like he was stressing for it and 100 if you made it seem like he as pushing for it.

If they do look this up they will find that it can be done and is done by Endurance Horse Racers so it would not toss up any red flags to anyone.

You might get one or two people that really know horses and traveling though those environments that *might* say something but in truth they realize that this is fantasy and there is quite a bit of room for artistic liberties and circumstance situations.

Most people do not even question this unless it seems just beyond belief, like he traveled 500 miles a day or something like that.

Keep your numbers realistic and most people won't even question it and it allows you liberties to keep your plot and storyline flowing the way you want it to.

That's a good point. I can't really even think of any books where it gives you enough detail in the story to actually know how far somebody has traveled, except perhaps for certain parts of lord of the rings.

Just don't make it rediculous. I read a book a couple of years ago where some guy attacked a castle with an "army" of twelve people. And the castle had eighty foot walls. I mean really? Twelve people? Try a couple hundred at least. Eighty foot walls? Try more like thirty and you'll be getting closer to most castles that I know of.

Dang... 80 foot walls and 12 people?

I guess if I explained that the people were 50 foot tall giants then this would fit the sense issues.

I always like my stories to have a realistic edge to them, just suits my personalitiy, really.

I agree with what you mean Ungood. But the main theme of the story is travelling, so I'd like to try throwing in some numbers for the distances.

Of course, if this proves to be too boring, I'll take it out.

But I'm mainly writing this story for my own enjoyment (I've been wantign to write a good fantasy for ages) as opposed to other stuff I write which is more aimed at having people actually read it.

So if the distances make it a little dull, but it makes it more fun/interesting for me, then I'll consider it a success. Of course, I'd like to acheive both, but you can't always have everything...

I'm rambling a bit now, sorry. But my point, i suppose, if that even if the exact, realistic distances don't go into the story, at least I'll know they're there, as a sort of building block for the plot.

How far is it possible, or at least feasible, for a character to travel in a day?

Most relevant would be travel on a horse. Can the horse walk continuously? Does it need regular breaks? If traveling over a long period of time, does it needs days off in order to rest and recuperate?
I know very little about horses...
Oh, and would it be necessary to have one horse to ride and one pack horse? Or can one horse carry the man and the pack?


It depends on a number of variable circumstances. What is the weather like? Hot weather will tire the horse faster than cooler weather.

What is the terrain like? There's a huge difference between going up and down hills, across a plain, or through drifts of snow.

Is the rider using a road? What's the road like? Muddy roads that force a horse to struggle through mire are harder to travel than paved roads.

How fast is the horse traveling? A horse that's galloped too far could develop tendon and ligament damage. It could become dehydrated.

How heavy is the rider? A 90 lb. teenage girl will be able to travel further than an armored knight wearing heavy plate armor.

What's the horse's breed? Some breeds have more inherent stamina than others.

What's the condition of the horse? Horses that have been grain fed and well rested will have more stamina than horses who have been ridden hard over a period of days.

Related to the condition of the horse is the daily care the horse receives from his rider. Horses need to have their hooves checked periodically. Objects lodged in the hoof can damage it and affect its ability to walk. Horses also need cooling after a long ride. They may need to be walked to avoid having their muscles stiffen up. A horse can take more than an hour to cool down after a long run.

Depending upon the temperature, as a horse cools down, it will need "rugging" i.e. initially a light blanket and then a heavy blanket to help keep it warm as fatigue and muscle stiffness set in. At this point the horse will need water and feed to replenish energy.

The bottom line is that horses are not cars. They cannot run indefinitely. They need food, water, and rest just as you do. They also need proper care.

Thanks for your help.

I've answered some of your questions in my post on page 2.

But as for the others:

He's a full grown man of average build and height, and will only be wearing medium to warm clothing or perhaps leather armour.

The horse will be well looked after as he has just been bought from a stable, so he should be in tip-top shape.

The story starts in autumn and moves through to winter, but there shouldn't be any thick snow, just cold weather.

The story starts in autumn and moves through to winter, but there shouldn't be any thick snow, just cold weather.

This would be a long time to have a horse on the road. It is unlikely that he could ride this horse all day and every day for this length of time.

A horse needs to eat 1.5-2% of its weight daily. That amounts to 15-20 pounds of hay, usually divided into two feedings that includes about 3 cups of grain. That comes to about 42 pounds of grain per month and 560 pounds of hay. Keep in mind that your rider not only needs to carry grain for the horse, but he'll also need supplies for himself.

Horses may forage for grass as long as they have grain. If you've seen pictures of horse farms, you typically see horses in large pastures where they can graze. These horses are still fed with measures of grain and hay.

To ride this far and this long, your rider would probably need to switch out horses, trading his tired one for a fresh mount. He could do this if he was traveling with a remount. The remount could also carry all of his supplies.

The rider could also try trading horses at towns or villages.

In terms of speed and distance, horses can gallop for only a few miles before they get tired. When they gallop, they can travel up to speeds of forty miles an hour.

They can trot longer than they can gallop especially if the rider alternates walking with trotting.

They can walk a lot further than they trot.

In peak condition, a horse can walk all day with periodic breaks to rest and drink. Twenty to thirty miles a day would not be unreasonable.

He's going to be stopping at towns, to pick up his trail, every few days or so. And for replenishing stocks and switching horses. So I'm not going for a pack or a remount.

The rider is traveling across grasslands and the like, so will the horse be able to feed in the fields? Or will specific food have to be carried?

Having completed a 150km trek in the sweltering heat of australia this year, im going to say about 2-4kms an hour depending on how tired you want to make yourself. I did 3km/h r on a good day with a 30kg pack.

Thanks, that'll be really useful.

This is on foot I'm guessing? Haven't really had distances on foot covered properly yet.

How much training did you do for it?

None, although i do rowing and am an avid cross country runner. I Could have walked a little faster (or even ran the 25kms a day) but we had to keep up with the slowest member of the group. Considering we were carrying the pack it'll be safe to say that 3km/hr a fair estimate for an average walking speed.

Mind you we were trying to walk as fast as possible. Hense my estimate of 2-4kms/hr

Glad to help.

The rider is traveling across grasslands and the like, so will the horse be able to feed in the fields? Or will specific food have to be carried?

I answered this in the preceding post. :)

Reference paragraphs 2 and 3.

Yes, you did actually, looking back :D.

Thanks