Artist’s description from their Deviantart page:

A thingy thing thing I’ve decided to do because I actually kinda like drawing armor. Well, that, and I did want to show some of the types of armor used in the Equestrian army. A lot of these sketches I did a few moments ago, but only two of them are a little older than the rest. Regardless, they serve their purpose. o3o

The canon characters featured are Shining Armor and Soarin’, three of these are commissions I did of peeps’ original characters, and the rest are made up. As a sidenote that goes with my headcanon though, Equestia’s army is not made of ponies only. Their are several non-pony soldiers in the Equestrian armor, and to give a small example of that, I added in a Diamond Dog and griffon. C: Also, the sketches with colors were colored by Rex42. Thanks again, bro! C:

So with that said, I’ma go ahead and just jump right into the headcanon here, short as it may be for now:

Regardless of their nation enjoying a relative amount of peace (not including recently), Equestria actually has quite a bloody history under its belt. The 3-Tier War, the war with Discord then later Sombra, the rebellion of Nightmare Moon (the battle between the sisters known as the Bloody Eclipse), and so forth has resulted in Equestria’s army growing into what it is now:

One of the most extensive and powerful militaries among the prominent nations.

Due to the nature of Gaia, technology is mostly a mixture between magic and steampunk. We can get into the steampunk aspect a little later, but for this one, I’ma focus on the armor. Typical barding and protection of the soldiers come in several forms, but the most common in Equestria is usually leather, steel, bronze, and iron. The armor can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, weight, and purposes. Brief descriptions can be found on the images.

I can always explain the armor in detail later, though; I’ll update this when I do. However, I can go ahead and talk a little about the featured weapons here since the list is short:

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Clawed Gauntlets: It’s what the mare in the second image is wearing. They’re specifically the shoes though. The claws are fully retractable and etched with runes which integrate them with the pony’s magic, allowing them to seamlessly adjust to the situation and conditions without relying on clunky manual controls for standard operation. There is, however, a manual override switch located near the shin-guard housing.

Cleated Horseshoes: Exactly what it says on the tin; horseshoes that has been cleated, or had the addition of sharp spikes at the bottom of the shoes. They are the ones that are always issued to every soldier, and this is because of their devastating impact if anyone was unlucky to receive the brunt of a strike with these badboys on.

Spiked Guards: Protective guards upon the legs that add extra protection with the addition of spikes.

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I’m really sleepy so I don’t really have much else to say at the moment. If I think of something to add or elaborate on, I’ll do so later. Until then, as always, feel more than free to ask me a question and such. And thanks a bunch for stopping by. ^.