Talk:shaffron
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The design of a shaffron's eye protection varied by design for very different reasons. It is indeed likely that some shaffron designs were meant to keep the horse focused by restricting vision. There are other reasonings as well.
Blind shaffrons are rare, and were in fact used for jousting, the sport of nobles or royalty. They had no opening for vision at all.
Parade shaffrons were often as intricate as the riders armor, sometimes moreso, with incredible decoration and part of a complete barding. These were made to impress, not defend the horse.
Munitions grade shaffrons would have been most common, designed to protect the horse head from injury. Munitions grade items favored function over appearance, bearing little decoration and plenty of protection without such weight as to burden the horse.
In functional designs, the eye (and ear) cowels are designed to direct a sharp object around the eye that might contact the horses face . When a weapon such as lance or spear was used against the horse, it slid upwards along the horses face, and would hopefully be directed harmlessly away from openings in the armor.
If you would like to see an incredible shaffron, look here. This is also the cover image of an excellent book on horse armour, or barding.
Enjoy, X E Ryder
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