THE HORSE 91 



plains or on the soft ways of the desert. When the advance 

 of culture made roads necessary, when carriages were invented 

 and something 4ike our modern conditions were instituted, it 

 became imperatively necessary to provide additional protec- 

 tion for the feet. We find the Greeks, in the classic time, 

 wrestling with this problem. Xenophon, in his treatise on 

 the care of horses, advises that they be reared on stony 

 o-round, he havinp- observed that, in a natural way, the hoof 

 becomes somewhat adapted to the necessities of its condi- 

 tions. The Romans found the difficulty from the tender 

 foot of the horse yet more serious on their paved roads ; but 

 both these classic people showed, in their ways of dealing 

 with the difficulty, that lack of inventive skill which so 

 curiously separates the olden from the modern men. They 

 devised soles of leather and bags as coverings for the horse's 

 feet, but none of the contrivances could have been very 

 serviceable. All such coverings must have been quickly worn 

 out in active use. 



So far as we can determine, it was not until about the 

 fourth century of our era that the iron horseshoe was 

 invented. This valuable contrivance appears to have origi- 

 nated in Greek or Roman lands, probably in the former 

 realm, for it first bore the name of " selene," from its likeness 

 to the crescent shape of the new moon. Although simple, 

 the horseshoe was a most important invention, for it com- 

 pletely reconciled the animal to the conditions of our higher 

 civilization by removing the one hinderance to its general use 

 in the work of war and commerce. It is probable that with 

 this invention began the great task of differentiating the 

 several breeds of European horses for their use in various 

 employments, as draught animals for packing purposes, as 



