Mechanical Hackamores

Madonna Contessa Ilaria Veltri degli Ansari

Folio 121a

Illustration of a horseman performing a sword excercise. The saddle cloth features a lotus leaf.

Folio 113a

Single horseman who has transfixed a bear with his lance and carries a mace at his right knee. The text mentions incidentially that this particular lance, shorter than the regular type, is useful for dealing with wild animals. The youth, obviously a novice, wears a pigtail.

Folio 140a

Illustration of four horsemen, each one having a sword and a hide shield and each one carrying his shield on the horses croup.
The riders canter around a circular hippodrome pool in an anti-clockwise direction. All the riders have the reins looped over their right arms.

Medieval Muslim Horsemanship
A fourteenth-century Arabic Cavalry Manual
G. Rex Smith
1979, The British Library Board
Published by the Britixh Library
Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Home
Email me