THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 7 



which a man rode who had all the care of managing 

 the horse, while the lady sat at her ease, supporting 

 herself by grasping a belt which he wore, or by 

 passing her arm round his body if the gentleman 

 was not too ticklish. 



Horse-shoeing was not practised for many centu- 

 ries after the horse himself was in very general use ; 

 nor were hoof-protectors essentially necessary until 

 paved tracts and hard roads became more frequent 

 than they were in old times. The first foot defence 

 of the horse seems to have been copied from that of 

 his master. It was a sort of sandal, commonly made 

 of matting, rope, or leather. The Emperor Nero, in 

 his profusion, had his horses and mules shod with 

 silver ; and his Empress, Poppsea, was not content 

 with less than gold for the same purpose. These 

 sandals were very insecure, and were apt to be left 

 sticking in the mud; they were, therefore, seldom 

 put on the animal for the whole journey, but only at 

 the worst places. Nor do they appear to have been 

 adequate to protect the hoof from injury; for instance, 

 when Mithridates was besieging the town of Cyzicus, 

 in his first war against the Romans, he was obliged to 

 send away his whole cavalry to Bithynia, because the 

 horses' hoofs were all worn down, and their feet 

 disordered. 



