[general_re]

I wonder how much a knight in shining armor, with his arms, and the saddle, and the armor for the horse weights?

Honestly? Not as much as most people think. From about 1000-1300 AD, the standard chain-mail rig in use ran about 60 pounds or so - partly because people, on the average, were smaller back then than they are now. The full-blown plate armor, a la "Excalibur", that came into use around 1400 would have been slightly heavier, but not much more so - here's a modern maker who makes plate armor in the 50-70 pound range. That style armor didn't really last long, anyway - around the time it was introduced, firearms were being introduced also.

All told, a fully-equipped warhorse of the day would have carried not much more than about 300 pounds, which would have been relatively easy for a horse approximately the same size as a modern Clydesdale. The real reason for having such a big horse was because of the way the saddle was set up - when you hit something, the force of impact was transferred from lance to knight to saddle to horse. A bigger horse means a bigger blow to your enemy.

[medved]

You got those Belgians and Clydesdales in jousts but it's never been clear to me whether or not Europeans ever made extensive use of anything like that in real wars. The real armies of the day such as those of Chengis Khan and Tamerlane used lamalar armor, and eliminating weight while covering significant distances was certainly the major factor.

[null and void]

Excellent! Thank you. FR is the best way to tap into the smartest people on earth! So, saddle, rider, knight, knight's armor, arms, horse's armor totals say <500 pounds. Good piece of trivia to know.