Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
9.4 Saddle cover from kurgan 1 at Pazyryk made from felt, leather, fur, and hair, with some gold decoration.
Its main polychrome decoration is composed of two scenes of predation showing an eagle-like griffin
attacking a mountain goat.
Beneath the saddles were saddlecloths (shabracks) extending from below the saddle
on each side, adding further elaboration and colour to the ensemble. They were usually
made of felt but one was of Chinese silk. The parts obscured by the saddle were
usually plain but the exposed lengths hanging below were invariably highly decorated
with appliqué work and with tassels along the bottom edges.
Nor was any effort spared to make the bridles striking and brilliant. The halter-like
structure was composed of nose, cheek, and head straps attached to the metal, bone,
or wood S-shaped cheek pieces of the two-linked bits, the whole thing secured in
place by a single buckle on the left-hand side. In the centre of the forehead was a metal
plate attached to the bridle by a leather thong. The bridles were usually highly decorated
with wooden attachments carved in the form of animal heads and sometimes
covered in gold foil. Some of the horses wore elaborately carved head pieces. Only
the more durable part of the bridle survives in the kurgans of the Pontic–ÂCaspian
region but the general form of the arrangement seems to have been much the same
throughout the steppe. Plainer and more functional forms of bridle, which may have
been preferred in battle, are clearly depicted on the horse dominating the Solokha
comb and on two of the horses on the Chertomlÿk amphora.
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