headstall

noun

1. The part of a bridle that fits over a horse's head and supports other elements.

   “Why, Petruchio is coming […] his horse hipp’d […] with a half-cheek’d bit, and a head-stall of sheep’s leather which, being restrained to keep him from stumbling, hath been often burst, and now repaired with knots […]”

   “Another, that would seeme to have more wit, / Him by the bright embrodered hed-stall tooke […].”

   “He turned back, slipped the bit in Dox’s mouth, and laced the big flop ears into the headstall.”

   “Then the smith Ilmarinen / the everlasting craftsman / out of steel formed a bridle / forged a headstall [translating päitset] of iron […].”

2. (obsolete)A phorbeia.