SECTION XIL-HORSE-SHOEIN& 



HISTORY OF HORSE-SHOEING 



The adoption of horse-shoeing marks an advanced stage of civilization 

 in a country. Good roads are essential to social and commercial develop- 

 ment, and good roads necessitate horse - shoeing. Until artificial roads 

 are made and generally adopted, the horse's hoof is able to withstand the 

 wear of tolerably long journeys. Between the time of no shoes and the 

 era of shoes fixed by nails a long period of slow evolution intervened. 

 In the days of Xenophon horses were not shod either for civil or military 

 purposes. The armies of Alexander suftered from the effects of wear 

 upon the feet of their horses, and we are told that cavalry was left 

 behind, owing to the damaged state of the horses' hoofs. A form of 

 sandal woven of grass is the earliest protection for the horse's foot 

 recorded, and it was not constantly used, but only employed on horses 

 that were too lame to travel without some temporary cover for the worn 

 or broken hoof. Probably the next stage in hoof-protection would be 

 the use of leather, as less cumbersome than the sandals made from 

 vegetable fibre. Then we pass to the use of metal plates to strengthen 

 the sandals, and next to metal plates attached by leather thongs. 



Metal shoes for continuous wear, fixed by nails, came gradually into 

 use in Europe between the fifth and ninth centuries. As skilled work- 

 men would be required to make and fix them, it may be concluded that 

 at first only horses employed for military or court purposes would be 

 generally shod. Then the horses used for traffic in towns would be 

 shod, and as hard roads extended, so would the art of shoeing spread 

 along them for the protection of the feet of horses used for carrying goods 

 or passengers. 



There is no account of the art in this country prior to the Conquest, 

 when William of Normandy gave to Simon St. Liz, one of his followers, 

 the town of Northampton and the hundred of Falkley, then valued at 

 £40 per annum, to provide shoes for his horses. In Broolcs Catalogue 

 of Errors, page 65, it is stated that " he appointed Henry de Ferrers 



Vol. Ill 429 93 



