"Systematic research into its history was carried out by E.C.Cawte and Roy Judge two of the Society's [Folklore Society that is] new breed of rigorous archival scholars. The former revealed that the oldest known record dates from 1803 when the horse consisted of a stallion's skin and the man inside splashed water over the crowds from the town's pools..............all previous descriptions of the county are barren of references to it including some like that of Richard Carew that paid particular attention to its [Cornwall's] customs".

Richard Hutton - Stations of the Sun, A History of the Ritual Year in Britain.

At the moment without further evidence I am inclined to go along this road. Much of the "relic of a pre-christian era" view is derived from books such as the "Golden Bough", fanciful but not academically rigorous. When scholars take a closer look much of this is found to be less than accurate.

Now that should get a debate going.

I'll get me coat.

Dave Eyre