Horses Brasses an Explaination

HORSE BRASSES an explaination

Horse brasses are not random bits of decoration added to harness in order to impress the judge. They have an ancient history. Back in ancient times when the world was still as much a mystery as the functions of human body, people chose to protect themselves with magical emblems. It was thought that illness, famine, eclipses, volcanic eruptions and floods were caused by the evil eye looking down from the land of the Gods onto the world beneath. Superstitions ruled over common sense. Myths and legends drove people’s beliefs, religion was wrapped up in myth, superstition and embellished with fear in order extract money from people and to control them. Superstition was rife.

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In Turkmentistan in 1998 I purchased a silver bridle from a lady in the Tolkucka Bazar. (se above) When the deal was done she handed me a small triangular emblem. She pressed it into my hand and muttered some words I did not understand. I asked my translator what it was. She had handed me a talisman, a gift of protection from the Evil Eye. Providing I kept this no harm would come to me. This may seem odd to people today, but we don’t have to go too far back in history to find that superstition was common, and not just among peasant farmers. All ancient peoples, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians , Greeks, Indians, Romans, Moors, feared the Evil Eye, and from this they sought protection.

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At the end of the Ridley Scott film ‘Napoleon’ Napoleon is sitting with a glass of wine at a table outside on St Helena. In the glass was a dead insect, yes a bee. The bee was Napoleon’s emblem. At that instant Napoleon slides off shot. He has clearly died. Very clever.

Every French and English King had his or her special emblem. Francis l’s was a salamander. The Tudors had the red and white rose. The inner petals of red represented the house of Lancaster and the white rose represented the house of York. Combining them was the symbol of the unity of those two houses.

The sun has been the symbol of life to many ancient regimes, the ancient Egyptians, the Indian sun god was Surya. In Norse mythology the sun was drawn across the sky by a chariot pulled by white horses. The sun was a sacred emblem and so intertwined with this were horses. Poseidon drawn across the sun by a chariot drawn by horses with flowing manes. The sun was the fountain of life, the giver of light and warmth, we all depend on the sun. So it was in honour of the sun and to ward off the Evil Eye. Discs in gold were made and carried on horse regalia. They reflected the light and also protected the rider from the Evil Eye.

In olden times 13th 14th 15th centuries horses were often depicted with their tails tied in a knot. This was very important. It prevented the bogarts, evil spirts from climbing up into the horse.

Another talisman to ward off evil was to carry around a copy of a prayer from a religious text, in a small box, usually worn around the neck on a chain.  This prayer holder was found in Kuwait. It is typical of Arab work its style filters across the Middle East and similar work can be found in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Note the opium poppy seed shaped silver divider in the necklace.  Many travellers still often carry images or medals of St Christopher. The pilgrims who walked from Canterbury to St Jaques de Compostella in Spain always carried a pin or a badge of the scollop shell for protection. The ships of Drake’s time had  replicas carved of the heads of Spanish soldiers placed next to the main mast as tokens of defiance. Maybe people remember that many hotel placed a copy of Gideon’s Bible on the table by the bed. I would guess in the hope that their guests would be reminded of their Christian principles of behaviour. Still people believe in the saying: The Magpie: 1  for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for a girl, and 4 for a boy, 5 for silver, 6 for gold and 7 for a promise that’s never told.

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Poor people, farmers, carters, carriage drivers, troopers, soldiers, horse owners from across the centuries employed protection from the Evil Eye by making brass emblems and hanging them on their horse’s harness. These brasses were often not owned by the farmer or landowner but by the horse handlers, the farm hands. They cherished them and kept them in their homes for special occasions.

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This Bridle Boss was found at the Durdans Stables, Chalk Lane Epsom, and is now in Bourne Hall Museum.

Even the King could not always afford gold to decorate his cavalry, and so versions of emblems on bridles were often made from a lesser metal and gilded, sometimes metal was plated over with copper.

In 1715 a brass foundry was set up in Birmingham by Henry Carver and Walter Tippin. From about the time of the Napoleonic wars brass emblems became much more common.

So it is that inherited beliefs in the Evil Eye, and in talismans’ is not so far buried without trace. Every time you see a wonderful turnout of a heavy horse and wagon. Look very carefully to see which brasses it carries and remember that not all things are as simple as they seem.

 

Reference:

 

The History and Origin of Horse Brasses, R.A. Brown

Discovering Horse Brasses, John Vince.

The National Horse Brass Society

 

Collections of Horse regalia,

 

The British Museum

Castle Museum Norwich

Hull Museum

London Museum

Grange Wood Museum

Dorchester Museum

Ashmolean Museum