The folk lore of the horse / by Edward Lovett.

  • Lovett, Edward.
Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The folk lore of the horse / by Edward Lovett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    plaiti tihe forelock of tkei liorsei, or tie iti upi witli coloured rib¬ bon, etc., usually red, as this is the magic colour, tilt it stands up, more or less, as a point. This alse originated as a charm against evil, as points’’ have always been so regarded. Indeed, when a mother tells her child 'tnot toi point because it is rude,” it refers to the inference that a person so pointed at is an evil spirit. In the Museum at Naples are some beautiful heads of horses in bronze with very pronounced pointed forelocks, and even in the days of ancient Egypt and Assyria., we have pictorial proofs of a very similar method of head oinament. As regards our own country, I have been collecting patterns of forelocks made up by carters, of waste hair; but done exactly as they plait them on the horses. And I find that there are decidedly different details of plaiting and use of ribbon, etc., in different parts of the country, which is very interesting'! There is another form, of head charm; found chiefly amongst farm horses. This is a tuft of stiff hair like a shaving brush, which, indeed, it is sometimes called. (See fig- 6 for this and a Lancashire forelock.) Nowadays, these are coloured red, white, and blue. I am inclined to think that this; is an importation from Eastern Europe, for a. similar brush is worn on the headgear of the men of some' of our cavalry regiments, the uniforms of which may be traced to Hungarian sources. Many other curious fragments of trappings occur in the forms of pendant hair, tails, etc., all of which can be traced back to a very early history of the particular regiment in which they are still used, and this again is almost invariably found to be of Eastern origin. A very notable example of the survival of an Oriental amu¬ let, as a part of the decoration of the trappings of military borsesi, is the cowry shell (cyprsea moneta). Many of the horses of cavalry officers here and in Germany carry large num¬ bers of these on their headgear. Other horses sometimes wear them, too. I remember once in Holland I saw the. harness room of a rich Dutchman, and the old harness of his carriage horses was perfectly smothered with cowries. I may mention, as a significant fact, and one that explains the' reason of the use of this amulet, that the
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