There are arguably three scenarios for ridden animals and their encumbrance—light, medium, and heavy. A horse outfitted for a casual ride and ridden by someone with minimal gear (spare clothes, a sword, some utensils and water) has the lightest load and will therefore be able to travel farther in a day, thirty or forty miles. By contrast, a fully armored knight (plate armor, with multiple swords and a lance) on a war horse that’s also fully armored (plate armor) will have far less endurance and speed. This will reduce the distance that can be traveled in a day. A less armored warrior (chainmail, shield, one sword) and a lightly armored horse (just leather) will be able to travel father. This also relates to elephants, camels, and our custom animals.
Specialized horses can go over one hundred miles per day for several days in a row. The Pony Express riders could travel many miles, but they nearly rode a horse into the ground between stations, when they mounted another and kept going at the same breakneck speed. Horse-pulled wagons travel about fifteen to twenty-five miles per day without roads. Other animals like oxen, giant lizards, and elephants will have different speeds and endurance. We can use any of them as analogues for our invented animals.
