Leeds Armouries...

The photographs for these didn't come out extremely sucessfully. But what I really liked when I was there was the different armour and costume the horses were dressed in. It was interesting seeing how different cultures would decorate their horses for war. The English horses were covered in beautiful steel and metal armour like their rider. Which must have been quite heavy. This brought up another interesting aspect, that they used different breeds of horses dependant on the style of armour. Large cob breeds were used in English war, as they are bigger, stockier and stronger, so could carry heavy weights. However in Oriental war, the horses were Arabic breeds, so were a lot smaller, thiner, and dainty. The armour on these were more decorative, with tassels, and mesh for protection. These are a lot more to do with making them appear to be oriental, and a mark of the country they were fighting for, rather than protection.

I really liked the jousting costume for the horses as well. They were all matching their riders, as if they were a team. And the cloth they were dressed in represented the crest and heritage of the rider.