Destrier is an archaic word for warhorse. It was not a specific breed but was a horse chosen for battle and individual combat at jousting tournaments. As well as having the strength to carry an armoured knight (good armour weighed about 70 lbs)  the Destrier was also trained to inflict injury on the enemy. It was usually a stallion that had to undergo extensive training before being ready for battle. It had to

• Respond to a knights commands using leg pressure
• Trample the bodies of fallen enemies
• Bite and kick on command
• It needed explosive energy and agility as well as mass.

We can see Destriers being trained from the marginalia of manscript 264 in The Bodleian Library.

Training Horses

Because of the training the Destrier was a very expensive horse. It cost roughly twice that of a Palfrey which was a horse used for travelling because of its comfortable ambling gait. Knights would usually have a Palfrey for day to day journeying with the Destrier reserved for battle or tournaments.

Although it is often assumed that the great draught horses such as the Clydesdale are the descendants of the Destrier it seems unlikely because if one looks at medieval representations of Destriers they were far more like the modern Percheron.

Percheron

These magnificent horses typify the conformation of a Destrier. The

St. George by Albrecht Durer

Percheron stand about 15 to 18 hands (probably a bit taller than the original Destrier), they weigh around 2000 pounds, are heavily muscled and have a low centre of gravity.

It would have been a definite advantage to have a low centre of gravity in a jousting tournament along with explosive speed and power. From paintings of the medieval period we can determine that this is the type of conformation favoured by knights.

[The word destrier comes an from Old French word destre right hand, from Latin dextra; from the fact that a squire led a knight’s horse with his right hand]