What is the difference of "such as its" and "such was its"

Question

I only heard of "such as its", but not "such was its".

What is the meaning of such was its below?

A horse like this had never been seen before — such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength

Answer 1

It's an inversion. Rearranged, it reads like this:

• "Its splendor, its majesty, its strength was such [as had never been seen before].

  (however, I would have used "were", because three qualities are mentioned.)