Slitherine

[...] equipped in unmistakably European-style armour and using the the higher saddle favoured among their Christian enemies, were first introduced in large numbers by Mohammed I of Granada (1235-73). [...] Some substituted a turban for the coif and helmet, but others resembled Christian knights even more closely (though some at least of the latter are probably in fact Christian mercenaries) [...] Ibn al-Khatib adds that although armour of the type described above had "previously" been worn, heavy cavalry of his time (the early-14th century) were equipped with smaller ("short and light") corselets, light helmets, long, slender lances, leather shields and Berber saddles, which he regarded as an improvement.