At the end of the eleventh century, Georgia was in an extremely difficult military-political situation: the kingdom had been defeated in a war with the Great Seljuk Sultanate and paid tribute to the Seljuks. The territory of the country was reduced, and the king's authority did not go far beyond the Likhi Range, the natural border between the western and eastern parts of Georgia. Turkic nomads raided Kartli (central Georgia) every year and settled on Georgian lands, which they turned into pastures.

Over the centuries the horseman has used his lance in several ways: hurled it like a javelin, stabbed the enemy either from above or forward, or held it in both hands. When thrusting the lance, the horseman used his horse only as a combat platform, its power and speed never fully incorporated into the attack. Full use of the potential of the horse became possible after introducing a new combat style, when the medieval warrior held his lance fixed under his arm. As a result, the combined mass of the lance, the horseman and the horse rushing towards the enemy factored into the impact force, which was much greater than possible when thrusting the weapon with the muscles of the arm. In such an impact, the energy of the man and the horse is concentrated at the tip of the lance. Only the end of the lance was placed under the arm, therefore its point was more thrust forward (“lengthened”), than when using other methods of combat. It was the position of the lance behind the center of gravity that caused its being “lengthened,” which imparted a certain advantage to this style of fighting. The name of the new method of combat (couched lance) is due to this specifically: couched means lengthened, stretched out. In Georgian its equivalent is tsagrdzelebuli shubi: i.e., a lengthened lance.