Caparison

[2] In antiquity, a "magnificently caparisoned horse" takes a central place in a vision reported in the deutero-canonical text, 2 Maccabees 3:25, which prevents the Seleucid emissary Heliodorus from a planned assault on the Jewish temple treasury in Jerusalem.

They were adopted in the twelfth century in response to conditions of campaigning in the Crusades, where local armies employed archers, both on foot and horse, in large quantities.

Modern re-enactment tests have shown that a loose caparison protects the horse reasonably well against arrows, especially if combined with a gambeson-like undercloth underneath.

[4] A caparison made of red taffeta for the horse James VI of Scotland in June 1591 may have been intended for a masque performed at Tullibardine Castle.

They wear a distinctive golden head covering called a nettipattam, which is often translated into English as an elephant caparison.