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Originally Posted by katana
Secondly as the horseman is elevated above head level of the 'ground troops' the arc of the axe strike is longer and can therefore generate more power before it strikes its target (usually the head). Thinking along those lines ... the penetration of the blade edge would be deeper.....making retrieval more difficult for the horseman...perhaps to the extent that the rider may have to 'let go' the axe for fear of being pulled from his mount. If the axe head was fitted 'upside down' ...I think the retrieval of the axe might be easier.
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It makes sense. The angles is which the blade can hit an infantryman, could explain this configuration, equivalent to the configuration of the last third of a very curved shamshir. Specially if the infantryman shrinks, bends or kneels to avoid the blade. That would point to a tabar for sure, if the hypothesis becomes true. There are too many references to this "backwards" mounted axe heads to be coincidence, as it seems. And maybe the "normal" ones were designed to be used on cavalry targets with armour. This point dreserves a research.
Regards
Gonzalo