Pazyryk Horse

[Zeibek]

http://www.turanianhorse.org/prehistoric.html



This page has a picture of a horse with similar decorations. I don't know how reliable the site is, but AFAIK the Pazyryk culture did hold the deer in an unusually high regard, which would explain the elaborate headdress. That said the picture might be just artistic exaggeration.

Anyways horses decorated like that would be used only by the wealthiest tribal leaders and, certainly not in battle but in important ceremonies, meaning that they wouldn't make an appearance in EB as FM's. Of course then there's the little thing that the Pazyryk culture is centered around the Altai mountains, and since I haven't been able to find any dates for the site where headdresses like this have been unearthed the chronology is sketchy as well.

Offtopic: What was the cultural identity of the Pazyryk culture anyway? I've heard that they'vee been linked to Scythians, but then again their unusually close affinity with deer seems really wierd. Does anybody know of any non-Uralic people who ever practised reindeer husbandry?

PS. The site doesn't seem to be a reliable source, it says that the Scythians were an Altaic people who possibly moved to the Altay mountains from Siberia, which is complete and utter bullshit.