BARDS. Spelled variously barde, barding, etc. Horse-armor, often wrongly termed caparisons. The latter is the term for rich coverings (housings) spread over the back of horses on ceremonial occasions, whereas the bardings were to protect the war-horse (de strier) in combat. The ancient Dacian mounted spearmen's (calaphrocti) horses were entirely covered with scale armor, including head and feet The Etruscans used a chest protection (plastron) for war-horses; the Persians and Greeks used a horse frontal. A testiere of leather covering the entire head of the horse was known in very early days in Europe. By the 13th century chain armor (called "trapper of mail))) for horses was used in Europe; the leather "breast-piece is mentioned in 1347. Plate armor for horses was introduced into Europe, piece by piece, in the Middle Ages to become a complete panoply by the middle of the 15th century. The full set (panoPly) consisted of chanfron, crinet, peytral, flan chard, croupiere, tail-guard, rein-guard. The
purposes for these different pieces were as follows: Chan f ron ( spelled variously chamf ron, champfrein, etc.) or frontal, a guard for the forepart of the horse's head (with or without blinkers). Crinet, criniere or crinale, armor for the neck of the horse. Peytral, polytral, poit rail or poitrinal, a brestplate. Flanchard, armor to protect the flanks. Crupper, or croupiere, a protection for the horse's rear. Tail-guard, a tubular appendix to the croupier; served to protect the tail. Rein-guard, hinged plates protecting the reins.
The above full panoply became quite general by the middle of the 16th century, but from that time was, piece after piece, discarded till by 1600, horse armor was becoming rare. Armor for the horse's legs was rarely used. In order to reduce the effect of chafing, horse armor was lined with leather.