The lance with which the soldier strikes his prostrate adversary appears to have had a shaft about six feet long and a broad head. Two more spears often appear on these sepulchral reliefs in the hands of an attendant in the background. These are probably the throwing spears which were carried, according to Josephus,[383] in a quiver on the back, and could not therefore, owing to the position of the rider, be represented in their proper place. Concerning the horses one can say little except that they can hardly have been so small as they are represented. The saddle has a high pommel and cantle and is sometimes covered with a fringed cloth, and the junctures of the harness are ornamented with metal plates (_phalerae_). Like all ancient cavalry the auxiliaries rode without stirrups. From these reliefs, therefore, we can construct a fairly complete picture of the auxiliary cavalryman of the pre-Flavian period. His equipment as he appears on the column of Trajan is essentially the same, except that he now wears a shirt of chain-mail over his tunic instead of the leather breastplate, and that his shield has changed from an oblong to a narrow oval.[384] It is hardly necessary now to defend the accuracy of the column in matters of detail, but it may be mentioned that there is further testimony for each of these changes.[385] Chain-mail appears on the Adam Klissi reliefs and is mentioned by Arrian,[386] and the oval shield is shown on a Rhenish relief dating from the end of the first century.[387] The varied scenes represented on the column enable one also to notice further points, such as the manner in which the shield is slung at the side of the saddle when troops are on the march,[388] and the use of the military cloak (_sagum_) which hung down the back and could not therefore appear on the sepulchral reliefs.[389]