Seriously Were Jumps Kicks Meant To Knock Someone Off A Horse?

The jump kicks you are referring to are most likely those from the roots of the various Taekwondo styles. That saying has been around since before I began my martial arts training in 1967. But consider this. Much of Korea is not flat land. I can possibly see someone using a jump side kick to unhorse someone who's horse is close but on slightly lower ground. Bottom line is even if this is true, how often would you find a situation where you could use such a technique.

NOTE: In the 1960's when i began my training most Karate style did low kicks. Now it is common to see them in many dojo doing ridiculously high kicks. Kicks in the 1960's and before that time usually were low kicks using the ball of the foot, knife edge, or heel. Commercialism and tournaments has now made it common for many kicks that originally struck using the ball of the foot to now strike using the top or instep of the foot. This was done for several reasons.......

1) to make the kick easier for the students to do.

2) to make the kick safer for sparring since it is less likely to injure the opponent or your own foot.

3) to allow the higher kicks many people want to do.

However, using the instep is really a bad idea if used to kick someone in the head. Sure we see it done often. BUT, the people doing it are wearing foot protection and often kicking at an opponent that is wearing head gear. Kicking someones head with the instep of your foot with no padding between your foot and their head is a whole different matter. Kicking someone in the head is about like kicking a tree or a bowling ball. I would never even think of using the top of my foot to kick something so hard.

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I'm sure someone has done it in the past but it's not the reason why those kicks exist.

Jumping and spinning techniques increase the force behind the strike. A tornado or jumping round house is going to have more force than a straight up ole fashioned round house. It's just physics.

Dismounting horses? I've heard that before but one should bare in mind that even the Korean military had halberds and spears so if they wanted to dismount someone, they would have used a weapon for that seeing as the man on horseback probably had a sword of some sorts. At the same time if you look at Korean history, the militaries made extensive use of cavalry, much like the Mongols. So, you wouldn't really find guys trying to take the guy out using kicks. More than likely they'd pop him off with arrows or if things really got hairy, take him down with halberds.

But as far as using jumping kicks to knock people off horses...nah. I can tell you confidently that's not why those kicks exist.

Have you ever been standing next to someone riding a horse? Now I'm tall, roughly 6'3", and I'm flexible and my legs relatively strong. On flat, even terrain, I highly doubt any high kick could ever have the strength to effect someone sitting all the way on top of a horse, even if I was lucky enough to reach them. Unless they're Yankee Doodle and riding a pony, it's not gonna happen. The velocity of a horse in walk and trod alone is far greater than a persons. Kinetic energy is not going to be on your side.

It's BS. However, like others have suggested, fighting a person on uneven terrain would give rise to a new strategy. I've sparring on hillside before, at all angles. High kicks are necessary.

This is an urban legend that has never been substantiated. No one would try to dismount a mounted soldier by force when a weapon like a bow, spear, or sword would be much safer. This is true whether in ambush or in plain battlefield tactics. In truth, if you really wanted to dismount a soldier... take out the horse. This increases the odds of a horse falling onto the soldier, and weakening the enemy by stamina even if the enemy succeeds in defeating you. As in guerilla tactics, a common tactic is to wound, not kill, the enemy. In this manner, less effort and skill is needed, and herein effects the loss of soldier AND medic, which means the more soldiers, the less likely they will receive medical attention. A soldier without horse cannot maneuver as fast as a mounted one, nor can that soldier (scout) return back with enemy information as quickly.

I have never bought into the concept of dismount, and never have my instructors, either. Such things are good training aids - to imagine a high target. But I seriously doubt this is the application. Perhaps, it has been occasionally used. But this is doubtfully an accepted and practiced thing.

Jumping kicks DO have martial applicability: uneven terrain, such as water, rocks, snow, ice. Reaching an opponent who is on a hill - higher or lower - can be made easier by means of a jump. Also, a jump is a means of dodge. This is 3-dimensional thinking: most people think of dodging by moving left, right, forward or back, or any degrees within. But one can dodge by not moving at all except upwards, or upwards and at an angle. Or by using a wall, tree, or another person as a liftoff.

In training, though, jumping kicks are a good training aid even for stationary kicks. They force you to be absolutely perfect in posture or balance, lest you fall on your face or back. They have their drawbacks, in that they often require you to lower and lift your hands, but you typically do this out of range anyway. Be cautious to places your hands back in guard the closer you get to your target.

It's probably not ideal, but if you're faced with a horse rider it's much better to be up in the air with a chance to kick them than on the ground ready to be cut in half by their cavalry blade or skewered by their spear.

If they move fast enough, coming into contact with a powerful jump kick would certainly stun them and if it was a good enough one to the head it could knock them out.

It's certainly not ideal, and if there was ANY other option a skilled martial artist would probably use it. Entering a building or disarming the cavalryman would be better options.

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If I'm not mistaken, traditional Northern Chinese Kung Fu systems have jump kicks in their curriculum. Someone once told me that it was because of the terrain and climate in Northern China, with uneven mountainous terrain and snow, it was hard to throw normal kicks. Ever tried kicking someone with a roundhouse kick in deep snow? A jump kick would probably have more chance of connecting. This I was told is also why you see a lot of wide circular swinging hand movements and deep stances in traditional Kung Fu forms like Changquan, to lengthen your reach since you can't do much fancy footwork on uneven ground. Dunno if this is true, but it does make sense.

The one step aerial front snap kick was designed to unseat a mounted rider. It is designed for maximum height, not distance.

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