Please help me out

[HagridHair]

what do centaurs do with their human arms when they're galloping

I got asked this by a child in my work today and I was completely stumped 😂 do they do T. rex arms? Go on mumsnet tell me what you think Centaurs do with their human arms when they're galloping so I can report back tomorrow. (Hospital ward young child extremely unwell all around and I told them id do some serious research)

They might do the naruto run.

That is an interesting question about whether they're insects. Hmmmm

I was going to say they’d be holding a mobile phone with one hand and maybe typing on MN with the other (they don’t have any pockets as they don’t wear clothes so they’d have to hold it even when not posting in Facebook or whatever) but @5128gap expanded on that and said it much better!

A centaur with a kebab. Can you imagine.

From a (former) riders point of view I’d say arms and elbows close to body unless actively shooting their bow and arrow. Because wind resistance.

There again they are magic so…. Erm… no idea!

Not sure about (male) centaurs but I believe (female) centauresses hold their boobs to stop them jiggling about too much when they gallop.

Love centaur dressage and the hands behind the head ideas!

I think when they’re on a long trip and they don’t need their arrows they might use their spare hands to catch up with their correspondence (although their handwriting would be terrible because they wouldn’t really be able to look down…) or do some life admin. I think knitting is a good suggestion for a hobby where you can use your hands but not really look.

Perhaps they all have fidget spinners because they don’t really know what to do?

I asked DS2 (14) who knows all kinds of useless and random things. This was his reply

Draw bows, fire arrows, kill minotaurs and swipe swords at ice queens

😁 and heads!

We did this ten years ago. We didn't care about their arms though. Hold on.

Somewhere in classics there is a thread about centaurs love life. Referencing all classical literature. Sadly I am too passed to find it and off to sleep. Hopefully, someone will have linked by the time I wake up.

Hmmm. Time for another name change.

Definitely like a human runner…

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam

I asked DS2 (14) who knows all kinds of useless and random things. This was his reply

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam I love that so much!

One hand to shade their eyes from the sun and the other holding the sat nav so they know which way to go.

It's actually stressing me out that I can't figure out what their arms would do 😂
I like pp's suggestion of brandishing a bow and arrow.

Well this is amazing. I don't think they can pump their arms like runners as the balance and gait would be off. Clearly everyone is right about bow and arrowing - but only in combat situations. I think arms folded for gravitas and balance.

(Also centaur dressage is cracking me up).

This thread is one of the best I've ever read!

I came downstairs specifically to show my daughter who then acted out every suggestion. She leaves for university on Sunday and I'm going to miss her lovely weirdness!

Most centaurs in ancient Greece were portrayed in centauromachy - so fighting - or being gentle, wise and almost completely stationary (good old Chiron, the teacher of Achilles). I’m not sure the Greeks even thought about what they’d be doing if they were just galloping - I can’t ever recall them being portrayed as such, let alone at a gentle canter or even at trot! They are either fighting, firing a bow and arrow or dragging off women at a feast if they are moving, or being wise and stately if not. If someone knows more than me from my degree in history/history of art, please let me know, because I’m stumped too! What a great question. Although I do think that dressage-style hands on hips may have made them look a little more camp than their feared reputation would suggest :)

@BlackeyedSusan

my vote is for holding a bow in one hand (left maybe ?)

right hand free to take an arrow out of the quiver and load the bow? (there must be a proper word for that. )

Nocking the arrow.

Yes, I’m sad

@Fillybuster

Brilliant question and classy answers. I suspect centaur dressage is going to have me snickering at random moments for the next few days.

Meanwhile, obvs it depends. Bow and arrow in combat situation; video camera when running production for action scenes (additional height enable good panning from extra angles); shifting bales of hay (much as I love the kebab & pint suggestion, I'm guessing horse innards require an equine diet, and those things aren't small) and otherwise possibly for holding carrots & apples to nibble when pootling around?

Finally, on a semi-serious note, theres a good selection of cool centaur art on Greek vases available online, if you and the kid have time and energy to check out what they really got up to, back in the day...


This. I absolutely love Greek vases. Once spent the happiest hour I had in Paris with(out) a dickhead ex of mine in the Greek vase section of the Louvre. He didn’t want to see the Mona Lisa (“again, I’ve already seen it”), I hadn’t, was completely furious but calm and said that there was a section of the Louvre I had to see. He was so bored he wandered off and I had an hour alone with all the greats, including the Louvre painter, not another soul in the rooms all that time. Bliss!

why...jazz hands!

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam

I asked DS2 (14) who knows all kinds of useless and random things. This was his reply

This is an ad for having kids

Do baby centaurs walk straight away? Or do they develop like a human? How would they be carried? I’d like to think that when they start to run as a little one, their arms flail like Phoebe from Friends and they are given bows and arrows to hold to stop embarrassing their parents!

I think they'd do the macarena