HISTORY OF HOESE-SHOEING. O 



Whether the Eomans or Greeks were acquainted with 

 nailed-on shoes is undecided ; for though they were aware 

 of the insensibility and hardness of the horn, as shown 

 by the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Horace, it is well 

 known that the horses of Alexander's army suffered severely 

 during marches through Asia in consequence of the wearing of 

 their feet, and that vast numbers, becoming lame, had to be 

 abandoned. Mithridates, King of Pontus (first century B.C.), 

 while laying siege to Cycicus, sent his entire cavalry to Bithynia 

 for treatment, on account of the manner in which the horses' 

 feet had suffered from prolonged marching. 



Ko Greek or Latin writer on military science, hippology, or 

 ao-riculture mentions shoeiniT; with nailed-on shoes. Vesjetius 

 Flavins certainly describes the forging of weapons and other 

 instruments, but says nothing of either shoes or nails, as 

 probably he would have done had they been used in his time. 



Nor is there the barest indication of a horse-shoe on Trajan's 

 Column, on the bas-reliefs of Castor and Pollux, the frieze of 

 the Parthenon, on the mounted statues of Pompeii, nor in the 

 mosaics representing the overthrow of Darius by Alexander, in 

 the Naples Museum. 



A further proof of unacquaintance with nailed-on shoes is 

 given by numerous authors of this time, who describe methods 

 to render the hoof resistant, and give directions for treating 

 excessively abraded parts. 



Xenophon, the general and author, for instance, states : — 

 " To render the hoof as hard as possible, the horse should be 

 kept on a stone pavement, both when in the stable and when 

 in the court being cleaned." Columella recommends oak for 

 the floor of the stall, which hardens the hoof in the same wav 

 as stone. In 1827 an ordinance of Diocletian (303 a.d.) was 

 discovered, in which the prices of labouj* and the necessaries of 

 life are fixed, and in which there are two instances of fees for 

 the services of the veterinary surgeon (Mulomedicus), viz., for 

 clipping the animal and paring the hoofs, 6 denars* ; for groom- 

 ing and cleaning the head, 20 denars. Had shoeing been 

 known then, it would doubtless have been referred to in this 

 edict. 



In spite of the general agreement in selecting horses witli 



* Denar, a Roman coin, which in Diocletian's time equalled about Is. i^d. 



