The effect of the pitfall trap for horses is very singular; it only affects those war horses that are in a charge. Once a hoof steps into the pitfall trap, not only is the horse's balance impacted,
More importantly, although the depth of the pitfall trap isn't very deep, it is very difficult for a charging war horse to immediately pull its hoof out of the pitfall trap due to the inertial momentum of the charge.
One might imagine a horse at full gallop suddenly having one leg fixed in place while the other three hooves continue to propel the horse forward in a charge.
Under such conditions, it only takes an instant for a charging horse that steps into a pitfall trap to suffer a fractured leg due to inertia, besides the leg that falls into the trap.
Because one leg is immobilized, the horse's body will instantly lose balance and fall over.
