Do Horses Fly?

My California family, minus two teen-age granddaughters, decided to go to the Bowers Museum to see the  Heavenly Horse display. These horses are about prized war horses going back about 2000 years. The horses were powerful and legend is that they could fly. I have always liked horses and these are stout, strong and muscular looking samples of the horses.

I found the stirrups to be interesting and looked more comfortable than modern day stirrups. Shaped like a shoe the foot would fit right into the stirrup. The designs and any ornate tassels hanging from the saddle would explain the status of the warrior. Colors of saddle blankets determined where the warrior would fit into the castes.
 
On the Internet I read: "Thought of as dragons in disguise and celestial beings, horses were believed to be representatives of the soul and intermediaries between living and spiritual worlds in ancient Asian culture."

The horse on display with the faded blue saddle blanket plus the breast and hip straps (cruppers) with tassels show the high position of the owner. On the other hand, the horse with the green saddle seems to belong to someone in an even higher position!

I suppose each horse has its own story. It would be interesting to know those stories, but just like other history artifacts, we can only imagine the why and how of their coming to be in the museum.