ARMOR FOR KNIGHT AND HORSE

Under the code of chivalry, knights were forbidden to harm an opponent's mount, for horses were valuable trophies meant to be captured, not destroyed. The archers did not share this attitude. To them, the horse was another target. As early as the 1200s, knights began shielding their steeds from arrows, first with quilted fabric and then with pieces of boiled leather. The first armored horse clad completely in steel appeared around 1450.