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Explanation: Driving a horse with a cart or chariot on top of a testudo was a real, if probably only occasional, test of a Roman unit’s strength and discipline. If your testudo is improperly formed, well, one imagines that a falling horse is a pretty serious threat to get your unit’s ass in order!
A horse weighs about a thousand pounds, so in theory four strong men could hold one up. But what if the horse steps on the corner of your shield? You can’t resist that much torque.
The shields in a properly formed testudo overlap, so in theory you’d also have the edges of other soldiers there to help resist the weight. Might also be that the guy leading the horse tries to avoid that very scenario.
Brother there’s ANOTHER shield there to share the weight!
I like the ancient sousaphone!
