The Journal

R.J. Bradshaw

The NHBS Journal ‘Horse Brass’ is an A5, full-colour magazine of 32 pages plus stiff cover and is produced twice yearly in January and July. It has been highly acclaimed over its 50 years for its contribution to the history and folk lore surrounding the use of draft horses down the ages through the use of decorated harness and in particular horse brasses. It is aimed primarily towards the collector of these fascinating ornaments and tends more towards an anecdotal approach than strictly academic but is firmly based on accurate historical context and makes a particular point of recording all the fascinating design variations that have been produced for the last 200 years and are still being made.

Above, five editions of the journal that contain many articles on the subject

Members are encouraged to contribute articles from their own experience and interests and to send in relevant pictures to support it. If you need help the editor is able to assist you and the following guidelines are listed here which should be followed, if at all possible, to assist the Editor in the processing of your material for publication. It is not mandatory however, so, if necessary, just send in what you can. The journal’s success depends on your participation and no contribution is too small to be considered.

Horse Brass, the Society’s journal, is published twice yearly for private circulation to members and is not produced for sale. The copyright for all items is held by the society unless otherwise stated and items may only be reproduced by permission of the Editor. Any opinions expressed in articles are those of the contributor and not necessarily those of the society.

The Editor will be pleased to receive full-length articles, photographs or drawings for consideration for publication. Items should be typed or legibly written on one side only, leaving wide margins all round. Photographs in colour or black and white should be sharp and of sufficient contrast for reproduction. Please do not send photocopies as these reproduce poorly.

Contributions by the deadline dates of April 1st and October 1st please to the Editor Peter Ferguson at 29 Pilton Street, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1PJ or email to finelinepilton@hotmail.co.uk Telephone 01271 374262. Please send material electronically if possible: MS Word and jpeg images attached to an email are by far the simplest and much preferred. CDs (non-returnable) are also acceptable.

The journal is currently being indexed for members to more readily use for their own research, but this is an ongoing process and we need help with it. If any member will volunteer to assist in this process please contact the General Secretary. Journal numbers 1-70 have so far been indexed, but we are approaching our 100th edition so there is some way still to go! Copies of Indexes can be arranged upon application to the General Secretary together with copies of previous articles which are all held in our Archive.

A sample article from Horse Brass issue number 88