In the early days, horses had to be absolutely quiet when fighting. There are no bells on horseback. Later, the war horse also wore bells. For example, in the fifth and eighth chapters of Shi Naian's "Water Margin" in the Ming Dynasty, "Bells ring and horses gallop." It means that the bell rings and the horse runs.
In addition, because the postman rides a horse to deliver a letter, the bell is convenient for others to avoid, and it is accompanied by a pleasant voice, which breaks the lonely life of delivering a letter, so the horse wears a bell. There are also horses pulling goods on the ancient tea-horse road and wearing bells.
Extended data:
The use of ancient chimes:
Two bronze bells, an ancient musical instrument. Jin is one of the ancient eight tones. A clock is also shaped like a clock, but it is much smaller. Small bells are about decorations on flags, while big bells are musical instruments. In ancient times, besides being used as a musical instrument, clocks were immediately tied to cars, flags and dogs. Made of copper, it is spherical in appearance and varies in size.
The large diameter is about 5 cm, and the small diameter is about 2 cm. The upper part of the clock has a ring-shaped hanging ear for hanging a rope. There is a long opening at the bottom of the clock, the length of which is less than the diameter of the clock, and its width depends on the clock. The clock is wide and Jason Chung is narrow. There are two iron balls slightly wider than the bell mouth in the clock. Usually three to five copper bells of the same size are tied to a circular ring frame or rope.
The difference is that Manchu people are a people who ride horses and shoot arrows. Generally, they will tie bronze bells around the necks of war horses, and they like to carve liger patterns on the bronze bells to demonstrate their martial arts. Most bronze bells with tiger heads have no words. There are only a few bronze bells with the words of Fa, Hu, Wei, Yu, Wang, Yuan, etc., and the words "Jingyang Tongyu" are very rare.
In geomantic omen, the role of the clock is to restrain Huang Wu's evil spirits from passing through the gate of Huang Wu school, and to hang the clock to resolve them.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Ma Dingling
Baidu Encyclopedia-Warhorse (Chinese vocabulary)