Illustration from
Valenciennes - BM - ms. 99 - folio 19r
The Apocalypse, Spanish, early 9th century

Riders on lion-headed horses

A detail	A detail

Dans le registre inférieur, deux hommes armés de lances et de boucliers, assis sur une monture à tête de lion, au corps d'équidé et à la queue terminée par un serpent. Ces figures sont accompagnées de ces légendes : "Ubi sanctus Iohannis admirano istos equos qui habent capita leonem et in caudis earum similis serpentibus et de ore illorum procedit ignis et fumus et sulfor" ("Apoc 09, 17-19").

Sixth Trumpet: The Army Of Horsemen On Lion-Headed Horses

And I saw the horses in the vision. And the horsemen had breastplates of fire, hyacinth, and sulfur. And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. And from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. And one-third part of men was slain by these three afflictions. For the power of these horses is in their mouths and tails. Their tails resemble serpents, and it is the heads that cause harm. And the men who were not slain by these afflictions did not repent from the works of their hands, from worshiping demons or idols, or from their murders, drugs, fornications, and thefts. (Rev. 9:17–21)

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Referenced as figure 502 in The military technology of classical Islam by D Nicolle
p 430. A large round shield of the style normal among European barbarian infantry is carried by two unique horsemen in a 9th century Spanish manuscript, but with such shields and heavy spears they may have been mounted infantry (fig. 502).