HORSES OF THE SWEDES 83 



be well advised to pass these fables by without 



comment. 



In the first half of the sixth century the practice 

 of regularly shoeing horses apparently came into 

 vogue, for shoes are referred to in the records of 

 the ways and customs of the famous Emperor 

 Justinian. It seems certain, however, that the 

 shoes fashioned at about that period were clumsy 

 in design, also needlessly heavy. Specimens of 

 them have from time to time been discovered, 

 and it is said one was found in the tomb of King 

 Childeric, the date of whose death is placed so 

 far back as 460 a.d. 



Though Tacitus, who wrote between 80 and 

 116 a.d., does not allude to the horses of the 

 Swedes, it is certain that about the sixth century 

 a.d. the Swedes had become not only a race of 

 fine horsemen, but owners of magnificent horses. 

 Indeed in 550 a.d., or thereabouts, Jornandes 

 went so far as to compare them favourably with 

 the race of Thuringians. 



Probably it was in a measure owing to the 

 intense devotion of the Swedish king, Adhils, 

 to horses and to all that appertained to them that 

 the Swedish nation became so renowned for their 

 horses and their horsemanship. Then, though 

 the Arabs had no horses at the beginning of the 



