42 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



much coaxing and care, afford plenty of employ- 

 ment to the rider, as well as much apprehension 

 in time of danger." 



The ancients evidently had a rooted antipathy 

 to adopting any kind of contrivance calculated to 

 afford protection for their horses' hoofs. Upon 

 several occasions attempts were made to introduce 

 metal horseshoes, but in vain. The device most 

 resembling a horseshoe, that they were willing 

 to consider and of which we have a trustworthy 

 description, was a covering not unlike a sandal 

 made of reeds, or, in rare instances, of leather. 

 In reality it resembled a boot rather than a horse- 

 shoe, but it was used only where the ground was 

 very rough or exceptionally hard. 



In parts of Japan boots of this kind, made of 

 straw, are worn to this day. Berenger speaks of 

 a horseshoe said to have been in use in the time 

 of Childeric, whose date was 481, A.D., and most 

 likely it was one of the first horseshoes, properly 

 so called, of which any record is extant. 



If the figure of it preserved in Montfaucon's 

 " Antiquities " is to be relied upon for accuracy, 

 then it somewhat resembled the shoe in use 

 to-day. 



It seems clear that Xenophon was not an 

 advocate for docking horses' tails, at any rate to 

 the exaggerated extent we so often see them 

 docked to-day, also that he was not partial to the 

 hogged mane, for in speaking of the horse's fore- 



