V] THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 505 



amulet. I have elsewhere tried to show that jewellery and all 

 ornament originated not in aesthetic but in magic, and that 

 probably holds true to a large degree of the ornaments on 

 horse-harness. 



The modern Italian attaches a piece of badger's hair or 

 a tooth to his horse's bridle in order to avert evil. The 

 ancient Italian used a piece of wolf-skin or a wolf's tooth for 

 the like purpose. The modern Greek places an elaborate 

 amulet to his horse's neck ; the modern Kabyles of Kairwan 

 hang round their asses' necks a thick woollen cord (purple and 

 white), to which is attached two triangular amulets covered 

 with purple velvet, embroidered with imitation Arabic writing 

 in gold thread, and having a small round button between them ; 

 whilst the Arab regularly fortifies his camel against ill luck 

 by an amulet attached to its neck. It is therefore not un- 

 likely that the tassel attached to our modern cavalry bridle 

 may be a survival of some such amulet, whilst, as has 

 been already pointed out by others, the brass ornaments on 

 the blinkers of our dray-horses may be survivals of similar 

 protective charms. At the same time it must be borne in 

 mind that our draught-horses are the descendants of the 

 medieval war-horses, who not unfrequently had ornaments 

 attached to their bridles consisting of their owners' arms on 

 a small shield. The pieces of brass on the blinkers of 

 modern draught-horses, with their conventional ornament, 

 may in part at least be only debased imitations of medieval 

 heraldic decorations. 



