Protecting Horses From The Evil Eye

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30230, 7 September 1963, Page 8

Protecting Horses From The Evil Eye

ISntcially written for "The

Press” by

RQBYN JENKIN]

SUPERSTITION, it ° appears, will always be with us. For although the horse has long given way to the car and lorry, the car mascot is only a shade removed from the elaborate brasses worn by horses to w’ard off the “evil eye.” Today, horse-brasses have found favour as attractive wall decoration, but it is the rare hostess who knows anything about them. Were she to realise that her wall is festooned with, perhaps, the symbols of the dockside brewers, she may take a little more care in her selection.

But the light, machinestamped Walsall article, often of modern design, found in the shops today, is a poor substitute for the brass beaten out on the village forge. One look at such a brass told a story all its own Where it came from, its owner, his business perhaps, its date of manufacture.

Brasses go back to the beginnings of history, when man first thought to appease some god with an amulet on his animal. In Bibilcal days, camels wore crescent moon ornaments on their necks. As evil was ever associated with darkness, the symbols of light were regarded as the antidote. As a result, the majority of the first designs were of the tun, crescent moon and stars.

The dog sign of Japan later gave way to the hound or terrier, while the sacred Anubis of Egypt became, on later brasses, the fox or wolf Even today, if a martingale is ordered from one of the few remaining old-school

saddlers, he will place the crescent brass, or symbol of light, at the top without realising why he did it. It is thought the first horse ornaments were introduced to Britain by Gypsies. Later they were” brought back as souvenirs by the Crusaders. These were the crescents and stars favoured by the Saracens and Turks. In 1565. the Italian clergy forbade the use of such amulets on the grounds they breeched Christian doctrine But the old superstition remained—a horse was too valuable to be lost through neglect of the proper precautions!

Some Nubian finds of preRoman days were of gold and silver, but the first of the brasses were bronze, later they were lead coated with brass and other metals, brass-hammered or cut. cast brass and finally, stamped brass. \

But the horse brass was at its finest in design and variety in nineteenth-century Britain. Most were cast with two small studs on the back to enable the craftsman to hold the casting firmly in a

vice while he dressed and polished the face. Earlier brasses were made by hand from sheet metal. Today’s reproductions sometimes reproduce the studs on the back and some firms even try to age the metal and simulate signs of wear. But no modern device has yet produced the patina of a hand-polished brass, or the wear achieved by years of swinging to and fro on a martingale. After the early favourites, stars, crescents and suns—came designs of hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds, the trade marks of the Gypsy owners

The English counties could be easily distinguished. Cheshire had wheatsheaves; Sussex types often a farmer with a flail; Linconshire types a windmill; West Country a plough. The Isle of Man, inevitably, favoured three legs or a Manx cat; Ireland a harp; Scotland and Wales a clock face. Families used individual designs on their horses brasses and,. before long, every trade had its brass to distinguish its horses. Dock-

yard transpor showed anchors and ships, breweries barrels and bells. Some colonial brasses produced in Australia showed an emu and a kangaroo. From time to time commemoratives appeared, as with stamps. Lord Nelson, to commemorate Trafalgar, Alice, to commemorate the unfortunate and unpopular sale of an elephant, Jumbo, to the United States. Alice, his mate was left behind. Jumbo perished in a railroad accident. A brw was even produced in sinticipation of the coronation of Edward VIII. The list seems never ending. More than 1200 different designs are known to exist and many, like some stamps, are very rare. Here in New Zealand, genuine brasses are rare, but the modern reproductions are attractive and, if the story behind them is knowm. they always provide a good talking point