Black Shield with horse head

The Horse is associated with the Goddesses Epona and Rhiannon. This represents the power and fertility of the horse connected to the Kingship of the clan.

In Christianity, the black horse is generally associated as the third sign of the Apocalypse Famine.

Hades (Pluto by the Romans) wore a helmet that made him invisible and drove a chariot pulled by four black horses.

The Black Prince, Edward of Wales, was rumored to have worn a distinct plate battle armor for campaigns. The title "black" may be the color of his skin.

In Moldavia the head of a horse is considered a powerful talisman of witchcraft.

In ancient Egypt, black (kem) was a symbol of death and of the night.

Horsehead Nebula

One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion, is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud. Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s. The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust, although the lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left. Streams of gas leaving the nebula are funneled by a strong magnetic field. Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming. Light takes about 1500 years to reach us from the Horsehead Nebula.