Armour found at a market was likely ready-made.

A competitor could hope to win a good suit after winning a joust, otherwise, depending on his means, he may have to settle for poor or middling-quality found at a market. Purchasing fine armour was very expensive. All-in-all, the horse would be quite well-dressed for the event! Horses would also wear a cloth caparison, showing the jouster's colour and heraldic achievement. Barding could be made of leather, chain mail, or steel plate. Barding would cover a horse's face, provide protection for the eyes and ears cover the neck, back, chest and hindquarters. Use of armour for the horse would be another sign of wealth due to the inherent difficulty of making horse's armour, or barding. The heavier armour eventually led to the limitation of whether a horse was physically strong enough to carry the armoured rider effectively in the tiltyard. As time wore on, jousting armour became more and more heavy, with some of the latest models boasting of leg protection that was incorporated into a horse's saddle. Jousting armour first started as chain mail. There is not much information about armour workshops in either Spain or the Netherlands, but most of the large Belgian cities had active armourer's guilds during the Renaissance period. Some French workshops recruited Italians for their workshops in Lyon and Tours. Henry VIII established royal workshops at Greenwich, with previous workshops having been located in London. The city of Milan was most famous for its skilled armour smiths, though German armourers under the Holy Roman Empire outfitted the likes of Maximilian I and Charles V. One workshop in England boasted of smiths from Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Most armour was made by smiths in either Germany or Italy, though those smiths would travel to workshops all over the continent and England. More like American football and less like rugby, individuals participating in the joust wore protection. Henry II of France died in 1559 when a lance's splinter breached Henry's helmet and entered his brain by way of the eye. Severe injuries and even death were quite common. Jousting, much like rugby or American football, was a full-contact, dangerous sport. Rennzeug armour made for Maximilian I in 1515

Heather darsie