ON HORSEMANSHIP. 23^ 



let four or five loads of round ftones, of about a pound 

 weight, be thrown down in it, having a ridge, or bor- 

 der 



to defend them from any thing that might annoy them in travelling, or 

 the hardnefs of the ground, they faftened upon their feet^ by means 

 of ftraps and ligatures, a fort of Snndal-f, Stocking, or what -we call BoolS' 

 Thefe were made ofSeJges twifled together like zMat, or elfe o^ Leather^ 

 and were fomecimes ftrengther.ed with plates of iron, and adorned by 

 rich and oftentatious people with filver and gold, as in the inftances of 

 Nero and Poppxa. In the colledtion of the late Baron Socks, Paftes of 

 antique ftones, now in the Britifh Mufeum, there is one which repre- 

 fents a foldier binding, or tying, on this fort of fhoe, which, being add- 

 ed to other authorities, proves the faft to demonftration, as the above 

 pafTage of Xenophon, and the contrivance of the ftone-pavement, make 

 it clear that fhoes were unknown in his time. 



It is remarkable that the Japanefe, at prefent, have a fimilar kind of 

 fhoes with the common fort ufed by the ancients. They are twifted, 

 of ftraw, with ropes, likewife of ftraw, hanging down from them, with 

 which they are fattened about the horfe's feet, inftead of the European 

 iron fhoes, which are not ufed in this country. They are foon worn 

 out in flippery and ftoney roads, and muft be often changed for new. 

 For this purpofe, the men who look after the horfes always carry 

 a competent ftock with them, though they are to be found in every 

 village, and offered to fale by poor children begging along the road. 



The horfes of Japan are generally fmall, but fome of them not in- 

 feriour in fhape and fpeed to the Perfian breed. They are ufed both 

 for the faddle and draught. Vid. Kempfer's Hiftory of Japan, tranf- 

 lated by Scheuzer. 



I have not been able to difcover in what sera, or in what country, 

 the modern art of fhoeing took its rife. The earlieft proof I have 

 met with, is the fhoe faid to have belonged to the horfe of ChilJerk, 

 who lived in the year 481, and is preferved in Montfaucon's Anti- 

 quities of France. It perfedtly refembles the fhoes in ufe at prefent. 



t Rei Ruflicx Scrip. Editio Gefner. 



H h 2 It 



