Barding - Armor for Mounts

[Perdido Street]

This is definitely an idea for the future, after the current armor rework has been implemented, but, once that is done, it would be nice to see armoring (Barding) options for mounts. While the practical use of protecting our mounts is pretty obvious, there is also the element of style (looking at many of the reference photos in the thread on the armor rework, the armor for horses is usually as elaborate and decorated as that worn by their human riders).

Barding for mounts (and for other animals, like dogs/wolves whenever those become domestic-able) doesn't need to be nearly as complex as the system for crafting armor for the player model. There would be fewer individual components overall, but, hopefully, with a broad range of visual models:

[LadyWYT]

Just now, Perdido Street said:

While the practical use of protecting our mounts is pretty obvious, there is also the element of style (looking at many of the reference photos in the thread on the armor rework, the armor for horses is usually as elaborate and decorated as that worn by their human riders).

One thing I want to note is that unless there's some legitimate threats to mounts, armor is going to be nothing but cosmetic. And it really shouldn't be. Not that mounts need to suddenly be in danger of dying as soon as you take them out of the stable, but there should be some risks involved if you ride a mount into combat or otherwise encounter dangerous creatures while riding. That way there's some reason behind investing in such armor; it's going to be more expensive than player armor, and pure cosmetics doesn't really justify such expense.

Likewise, I think armor should also affect mount speed, similar to how it does for players. It might look cool and be very protective, but it's not necessarily something you want to have equipped all the time.

[Cedric the Silent]

Pretty sure I saw the Equus: Medieval Horses mod have horse armor in it. 

https://moddbcdn.vintagestory.at/2026-07-02_21-09-39_28b925ebd3df0f6850a1ca5f70bbfb53.png

[Cedric the Silent]

It would be cool to have a vintage story player version of the Battle of Hastings in a multiplayer server with a lot of mounted combat sort of like a mount & blade campaign. Army of players suited up on mounts using spears as lances all charging into each other would be interesting to watch.