The military, it seems, were impressively inventive when it came to devising punishments for their men. Though imposed for relatively minor offences, such as drinking or rioting, the wooden horse was nonetheless extremely painful and, on occasions, fatal.
A board with a narrow, or even sharpened, edge was mounted on four legs to which a rudely-fashioned head ad tail were attached. The soldier being punished was set astride the 'horse' with his hands tied behind his back and heavy weights tied to each foot.
Garret Segersen, a Dutch soldier in the American army, was made to ride the wooden horse for three days with 50 lb on each foot, for the crime of stealing chickens.
Connecticut horse thief James Brown was sentenced to 15 lashes and an hour riding the wooden horse for each week of his eight-week jail sentence.
The wooden horse was eventually abandoned in the English army because of the permanent injury it caused to the user.
I. Thompson, The A to Z of Punishment and Torture,
Book Guild Publishing, Brighton 2008
pp. 163; pp. 165-166
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