This is why I love your channel, its because of topics like this, people often just focus on medieval warfare and the arms and armor of that time period. There was a lot more to medieval life than just wars and weapons, those aspects were just a part of a larger picture.

As a Swede, I was confused when our scouts were at a camp in England and I saw what was considered forest. I have to say, even your example seems very easy because there is an easy way to go around it. I am used to impassable woods being brambles ahead, a cliff to the right and a marshy bit straight ahead. Of course, the Swedish landscape above Skåne is also never as flat as England. But this video definitely helps explain why it would be an odd concept to someone growing up in England!

from what i have researched, the woodlands that were often surrounding certain inhabited regions such as villages and hamlets were often very very very well maintained. Perhaps due to the much lower population density in the medieval era there are rather vast areas that are left unchecked like you are portraying, much like a modern jungle (just a bit more temperate). But for the most part, as far as in relatively close proximity to established areas, even the smallest village, it forested regions were very well in check. The folk of the day didnt use it for just charcoal, but also for wildcrafting herbs, vegatables, roots, bark and mushrooms, obviously for wood for construction and fire, and for hunting. They maintained pathways for travel and hunting on foot or horse, cleared brush for clearer line of sight and ease of maneuvering, practiced controlled burnings to alter the forests perimeter, regenerate soil, and produce ash (which was used as a soap and cleaner and many other things due to its many benefits and properties) and charcoal. Some speculate that many forested areas were far more well maintained than ours are today. They treated it much like we treat a garden, it was a major source of food and supplies for people of the past and was absolutely essential to their survival. Great video as always, love the work that you do. it is really interesting to see how your horse reacted to the much thicker and more dense brush. the hesitation and confusion is very clear. Really gives you an idea of how traversing wild lands would go in those day. Sending you my best! Cant wait for more content.

In the Canadian boreal forest, the trees will even attack you.

Man, the example here is def more mild than the unmanaged places I've been. For me it was always weird to see pictures of managed woods, for years I couldn't figure out why all pics of woods looked like that when it was so clearly not wooded at all (to me at the time) It is interesting how perspectives on the matter vary based on exposure

Lots of "Wild Wood" here in the USA. Where the video was taken is still cleaned up and easy to get through. Broken, dangling tree limbs are one slow down, ...but imagine one side of a stream choked with saplings or a thick growth of bushes.

It's kinda sad that Europe almost don't have any native forests anymore.

Love your channel, so very interesting! But I must say I was surprised to hear that is regarded as “unmanaged, wild woodlands” over there. It looks positively clear compared to what we are used to here in the Pacific Northwest of the US. It’s a reminder to me of just how precious and rare our wilderness is, and how easy it would be to loose them. Thank you for your great shows!

I could take a whole video of just you riding Warlord! What a magnificent animal!!!

That horse really trusts you. You can tell.

You’re the only person who can essentially make a whole video saying “Horsey no go here, too many branch” and make it sound epic. Bravo 👏🏻

I have fallen in love with that gorgeous horse and such a cooperative spirit. He must be an awesome horseman, a firm, clear, gentle guidance of his horse.

I'm American, so maybe it's a different frame of reference, but aside from that one downed tree, that bit of woodland looks a lot less dense and a lot more manicured than the woods I'm used to. The trees are very widely spaced apart and there seems to be very little undergrowth. I've spent time in the woods from New Hampshire to Tennessee, and it's all more dense than that. But I imagine that in an era where military tactics largely involved fighting in formation with spears, or with archers shooting volleys of arrows, those woods could create an issue - for the archers especially. Generally, you don't want stuff getting between your projectile and its target, it just slows the projectile down and/or knocks it off course.

My God that horse is beautiful, such intelligence in his eye!

I was doing some patrols and training in the polish woods with the us army in 2018 and it was incredibly hard to navigate some parts on foot let alone on horseback. If the entire forest was like those small areas I experienced then yeah it would be impossible to move an army through the woods cohesively

It's funny that it only dawns on me now that most Woodland in England these days would be rather managed. Here in Aus the idea of impenetrable scrub is just the nature of a fair bit of the bushland.

Goodness....I just watched Jason ride in a wood for 5 minutes and enjoyed every second...the man is a born teacher

Growing up in Texas it always bewildered me that riding a horse in the woods and under trees was even possible, because the undergrowth is so dense, even where trees are plenty tall enough. It wasn't until I moved to Colorado and experienced low undergrowth that I realized this was totally possible.

I live in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Due to frequent rain, fir trees, hemlocks, and cedars grow like weeds around here, and the underbrush growth (thorny berry bushes, especially blackberries, sallal, stinging nettles, scotchbroom, ferns, etc. etc.) is even worse. Unless you are in woodland that had wildfires pass through within last 4 years, our woods are often impassible if you go much off-trail (on foot, much less on horse). And a lot of these woods are right on the edge of the suburbs, so you don't even have to go far to find them.

The horse is so cute! It almost looked like he was dancing instead of galloping, along with the music

That is one of the maeras, unless my eyes deceive me.

that's the kind of woods we have where I live. Many, many fallen trees, huge grounded logs, lots of underbrush. It's not bad walking in winter or early spring, but once everything sprouts up and out, it's nearly impenetrable. Your horses are beautiful and I can see how bonded you are with them. Thank you.

I live in Texas and we've got woods like that all over the place. Lots of firewood without having to use an axe. Nice video👍👌💪💪

This is relaxing to watch.

So beautifully peaceful. I would love to ride all day in a place like this.

I feel like it should have been more powerfully stressed that most medieval woodlands would have been just as carefully managed as today if not more so. It was precisely because of how important the woods were to the society at the time that they needed to manage them. Yes there would still have been wild woods and encountering one would surely have been a massive headache for any army on the move, but this is not really a clear representation of what a "medieval woodland" is.

The sort of old growth forest the Romans marched into in German, is of course, much more rugged and clogged with under growth fallen branches, fallen trees, and uneven terrain. Sadly, such forests have not existed in the UK, for some time, due to the very long and periodically large human presence with its tendency to cut down forests for agricultural and fuel purposes. Your point is right on the mark , you just don't have access to the sort of forest you are talking about. There is still a small amount of old growth forest on the west coast of Canada. It is easy for your horse to get seriously injured by stepping into holes left by ancient uprooted trees, that are covered in a thick mat of evergreen needles. There is much less undergrowth due to lack of light and the acidic nature of the evergreen needles. I have never tried to ride in old growth forest, it is very different from new growth that is a hundred years or older. Those big trees have not been there as long as one might think. The old growth trees can be really big after a few hundred years. Welcome to the Teutonburg forest

I love Warlord! Of all your gorgeous horses is my favorite! His head is absolutely gorgeous and that Roman nose!!! He has an intelligent look and kind eyes also seems to enjoy his work. Gives vibes of being born on a cold windswept northern island. Jason, you are very patient and kind horseman, and understanding of the equine mind. Your channel is terrific. Thank you for it!

Last month I took my bike out to test how far I could ride in a day, to have a number with which to plan future long-distance journeys by bicycle (I got as far as Rochester, or 30 miles in 6 hours, before I had to turn back because it was December & it got dark). Along the southern edge of Gravesend this took me through a path in some trees & I thought "this must've been what all Watling Street would've been like at some point in the past" (of course were it not for it being right next to the A2(M). The section of woodland had been planted by the council as a noise barrier between the A2(M) & a local housing estate so was managed but of course they wanted it to be deliberately thick for greater effectiveness as a noise barrier.

It's interesting that the English referd to a woodland as a "wood", while the English in America called it "woods".

Jeez, Warlord is one of the most patient horses I’ve ever seen. Go Warlord!

In school taught mid-medieval seemed very boring. Buy watching you videos it was brought to life and more interesting especially with how life was lived.

Yes. That is exactly how a true forest looks like, also with some tall grass wherever the leaves don't block the ground and allow it to grow. As someone who lives in Southamerica, I don't want to imagine the hell spaniards may have to suffer while exploring the continent. For example, we know that the spaniards took over two weeks to get to the place that later became the city of Luque from the fortress of Asunción, which it is our capital city. Nowadays you can get there in somewhere around 1 hour.

I'm not so sure that medieval woodlands were all that "unmanaged". I'n another time and place, Ponce de Leon, the first recorded European in Georgia in the southern US talks about being able to gallop his horse through the forest. You can't do that today. The reason you could then is the native Americans carefully managed controlled fires to remove the under story. Their main protein source was deer and it made hunting them much easier. If they could do this, I don't see why it wouldn't have been done then on a similar scale. I suspect it is more about command and control than anything else.

I live near ancient woodland and know not to go in it when there's any significant wind. Even on a calm day I've had narrow squeaks with dead branches falling down from the canopy. I've also gone flying after losing my footing in the tangle of tree roots, rotting leaves and surprisingly hidden natural little pools at the bottom of tree trunks. It's no wonder outlaws hid in forests. Pursuit of them would be challenging to say the least..especially if they knew the landscape from living in it.

I'm from Seattle, there are city parks near me that are more densely forested than this. However, we also had 4000 year old trees within city limits as recently as the 1950s. Once people start trying to manage woodland its never really the same.

I grew up camping thanks to my dad loving it. You've shown me nothing I can't at the least jog through and most of it I can full on sprint in.

The teamwork you and the horse have is beautiful. He has nature navigation unit, eco-friendly. To think that was a daily bond between man and nature.

You can actually see the effects of dense woodlands, bogs, and hills/mountains in impeding movement, when a certain welsh man tried multiple times to cross Wales in as straight a line as possible.

thank you for the info :D and I love that you actually show not just sit and tell! As a writer these bits of seemingly unimportant info are very useful for me.

I don't know how things are in England but as a hunter I can tell you that most woods don't abruptly end. at their edge is normally a tangle of foliage. each individual plant fighting for sun. the result is normally an almost impassable wall. the reason I have noticed this is that game animals will usually use this area for travel. I'm no scientist but I think the forest is constantly trying to expand. just my thoughts.

Completely fascinating. It really sparks my imagination, now picturing all the medieval stories I've read with forests like these.

I thank God I have woods like this near me my entire life

This guy is a game dev who rides a horse around a forest and wears plate armor. So cool!

I was expecting crazy levels of thick trees and sticks...but this is legit my cousin’s backyard? Makes you appreciate American woodlands-they’re almost all like this.

Thank you for this series of videos! So many reasons to become addicted - beautiful animals, spectacular scenery, charming passionate and knowledgeable presenter, fascinating and evocative information, lovely music. I can just imagine every sensation of walking or riding through those woods - peaceful, fragrant but also a little uneasy and maybe even frightening. Thank you for sharing your world with us!

Lol this it's the kind of riding I usually do, and it's very slow going, but it's adorable watching Warlord manage with logs and branches

Additionally, they would often place light-troops in the wood. If you tried to attack through the woods, these would blunt your attack, delay you, and inform the commander so you don't get the element of surprise. Some armies did fail to place adequate (or any) skirmishers in woods, of course, relying totally on their difficulty to navigate (or assuming the enemy is further away). Some woods are really wild. In WW2, the French didn't expect even tanks could cross through the forest and attack them. On the bright side, the infantry could bring axes and tools and try to clear a path through the woodland for the cavalry, making it a bit more navigable.

This is fascinating. I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US and almost all of the woods or forest are so dense and thick, much like the area you demonstrate. I think it's wonderful to see the differences in the natural areas around the world, and how we manage them. Thanks for making these videos, they're great!

To an Australian, that looks pretty tame, even for the suburbs.

When I visited Scotland a few years ago, I had no prior concept of what a "managed forest" was. They actually clean up the undergrowth. Here, something like that is akin to a tree farm-where it is managed, tended, and harvested. Compare that to our natural woods in New England, which are deep, dark, tangled undergrowth. Even though 95% of New England was clear cut at one point, to both use timber for house and ship building, but also to keep houses warm, and to make way for farm animals-the woods that have reverted, are wild again. And, there are some areas where, even as I have grown up in the area, and spent almost my entire life in the woods-I can certainly see how intimidating our deep, dark woods, with their large imposing trees, and tangled thickets of mountain laurel, blackberry, and creeper vines, would be scary to those who first came here. And how it could actually prevent movement of military forces.

The dramatic music for the fallen tree! Forest maintenance in Canada has put its focus into making sure deadwood exists, to rot and nourish the forest floor. Even in Toronto, the "City Within a Park." Edit: Toronto is pretty big, 630.2 km2 (pop. 2.93 mil). Our public parkland can include the usual playgrounds, soccer pitches, baseball diamonds, beach volleyball courts, exercise equipment, off-leash dog areas etc., but mostly it is trees. And ravines and river valleys. And these are big enough to include parking for visitors, road access for maintenance, large groomed areas for public enjoyment and still have larger areas running wild and natural. These are also accessible to the public, and people are generally respectful and tend not to litter or pick flowers, as they could be protected (Trillium) or toxic (giant hogweed). It's a wonderful experience to just go roaming through the underbrush under the canopy, whether or not you have a dog. If you stick to worn footpaths, you don't risk trampling new growth. The three major parks close to my heart are Taylor Creek Park, Rouge River Ravine/Rouge Park (the only national park in Canada within a municipality), and Humber Valley. Of course, Toronto being on the shore of Lake Ontario, the Humber and Rouge rivers extend from a far greater distance than where I've enjoyed them. There is also the Don Valley, but I've only ever traveled over it by subway (what a view!), not actually explored it on foot. I really should. So, yeah. Toronto is big. Lotsa trees. Can't see the rooftops for the trees.

Yes, I'm rereading Ivanhoe, and always tried to visualize what Great Briton was like in the olden days, thanks!

I'd imagine that idea of 'bandits waiting on the roadside' would have been very real, as travelers would have been forced to use the road that was there, rather than pick their way through an alternative route. Thanks again! Love this channel.

I like this video because it shows different aspects of past era in details. The small details are important and help us to understand the past properly.Thank you

My grandpa manages a few acres of woodland and it usually takes only a few months of not clearing tracks for bramble berry vines to pretty much make the terrain uncrossable.

Thank you.

In my youth I had an occasion to walk through "virgin" forest in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. That nice green carpet beneath your feet held myriad pitfalls to the unwary. Covered rotten logs just waiting to trip you or your weight to collapse them. What appeared to be solid ground was actually vegetation hiding empty spaces between long ago fallen trees. You wouldn't want your horse (or yourself) to step there and suddenly sink down a foot or three and either get stuck or impaled by a tree branch or a broken trunk. Took a lot of strength to move safely through that kind of terrain. I was young and fit in those days and still found it physically taxing.

Brilliant video ,we have plenty of woods like that with thick under growth of brambles & water ways in Wales so I can understand this story very well .

So beautiful there. Reminded me of trail riding in Virginia as a teenager.

We have a small piece of property in the US, in the state of TN. It’s obviously been harvested sometime in the past 100 years but not much since then and there are patches where unless there is a deer path you are not getting through. Even some deer paths require an effort to use by a single individual and a group would be single file and pretty vulnerable.

I asked the same question and you answered with a video thanks mate.

A common wild growth is a "cane brake", a tangle of raspberry, blackberry, or other thorny bramble vines. It would be nearly as bad as barbed wire up to your eyeballs. It's _somewhat_ easier to cut than barbed wire but the old shoots are tough and won't cut to a glancing blow, and are interwoven at all angles. The person cutting would be enormously vulnerable to a spearman on the other side. The fastest way to get through one is to crawl under it, and imagine doing that with someone trying to stab you.

I'd imagine such woods were also dangerous for cavalry as they would be an excellent place for ambushes. Once in the thick of it, a few archers could terrorize horsemen very effectively.

I can well imagine what those old British Wildwoods would be like - where I live in Canada the mixed boreal forest is virtually impassible due to deadfall and groundcover foliage. I've gone hunting in open forest only to quickly find myself bushwhacking in Tamarack swamp - impossible to get through on horseback, extremely slow going on foot, and LOUD. You aren't sneaking up on anything in rich deadfall! It gives me all the more respect for the people who first lived here, as well as the explorers who travelled through this stuff to find routes across the country, natural resources, etc. The maintained forests are nothing compared to the old growth.

Beautiful horse. Also who does the music to the video?

Great video! I could see right away how travel would have been nigh impossible. I also loved Warlord "rearing" at the end, if that is what you call it. You are both absolutely amazing together and that was such a nice closing shot. Thank you!

There’s this one forest in Scotland that’s near Aberdeen and it is the most beautiful forest I have ever seen, it’s full of moss with logs everywhere and huge tall green trees. And it’s always freezing cold and damp there so it feels so nice

I've walked into a tropical jungle. sometimes I don't even know weather I walk on the ground or not because of how thick the vegetation on the forest floor is to the point that I can stand on it and it doesn't collapse on my weight

Goat willow is insane too, it grows really tall the splits apart falling in all directions then keeps growing up its like a wall

You should see the bush/forest in Australia where I live, it’s very common to have areas that are knee high in layers of bark and branches, it’s something we would go around as it would be dangerous to try to go through, it’s also why we have such incredibly intense bush fires.

Definitely a good example, but I don't need to imagine at all being from the U.S. I've lived a couple decades in both Missouri and Indiana each, and while Indiana doesn't have a lot of woodland even that is chaos compared to what we see here. I absolutely love Missouri and it has a ton of woodland that you can barely navigate by foot. The most dense woodland (mostly pine) I've seen was in southern Louisiana. I thought I was pretty good in the woods until I went on that walk. The undergrowth and fallen pines were so bad, and the trees so close together, that I literally had to spend minutes surveying the area to try to make it a matter of yards on foot. With 5.11 patrol boots, in military B.D.U.s. It was crazy down there!

I can attest to this alright. I live in the mountains of north Carolina near the great smokey mountains. And the woods behind my house were almost impassable using off road vehicles such as a 4 wheeler. So I could imagine what it would be like trying to do so on horseback.

I never seen a music this epic paired with visuals of wood

The sweeping dramatic music when he encountered a fallen tree just about made me bust out laughing! If this is what you consider "wild and chaotic", I can barely imagine what kind of manicured landscapes you're used to. I guess this just really illustrates how much the centuries of dense habitation of England have fundamentally changed its woodlands. Here in the US, only estate gardens and city parks are less "wild" than what you show in this video.

Magic. Sheer magic.

My father in law used to ride his horse through the worst Canadian forest tangles and deadfalls imaginable - but the horse had spent years doing it. It was a slow process, at best.

It reminds me of the woods/forests we have here in the U.S. in the Midwest region, if you go to a state park/national park. If you go off the trail it looks a lot like this

I recommend the book "the secret life of trees" for a description of what a forest looks like if being left alone for two hundred years. Tall, straight trees. Smaller trees growing slowly in their shadow.

I love all of your videos very much. Thank you.

Fascinating!! I’ve learned something here. Thank you.

"I came upon a 'clearing' in the wood. Now I understand. :-)

That is one of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen! 💖

Kudos for the credit for Warlord the horse and for putting him first on the list. Classy.

Epic music of a guy stuck in the woodlands lol. I do love the channel! Great work!

As an American I appreciate your perspective and information. I do not compare America to medieval England. Thank you and please keep up your great show.

Looks like woods in Missouri, no one ever manages then except for paths like the one you went into the woods with.

Funnily enough, this looks like where I grew up, except I'm in a mountainous area.

That horse is beautiful..beautiful

A near-perfect spot for an outlaw noble and his band of merry men to hide from a Norman sheriff.

This is normal 'woods'in the US. No management. Lots of wild spaces.

That horse was thinking "Sucky, unmanaged woodland..."

btw i always love the soundtrack , great work . and thanks for doing it

In northern and eastern Texas, the forests are often nearly impassible by a single person, let alone a large group. This is because the trees are often interconnected with vines and large bushes, creating walls or a maze-like system that makes it very difficult to traverse through.

This is why I love America. Our National Park service's managed to save a pretty decent chunk of woods from any development and if you live in the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest chances are one of them is only a short drive away.

Hello Warlord! Another handsome boy. Oh, and I liked the video, too. The woods here in Eastern Pennsylvania are very thick.

I think you have the best job ever!!!

That's open countryside where I live. If you ever get to Washington State, we could give you a chance to look around at what a conifer forest is like.

I agree and disagree. I've worked in woodland all my life, and I lecture forestry and environmental management in college. Where you were riding was very subtle. I live in Wales, the Romans, Normans and English were beaten by our woods and mountains. The outskirts of a wood is usually thick, while the interior can be open. You could be concealing skirmishing forces there. Woods covered most of Britain, they were an unknown quantity. Really good video, not many people think of your topic.

Personally I like wild woods, not the dry wild woods of the American West but what I am seeing and grew up with. Just something really special about wild places that has been lost these days.