52 



HORSE'SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



for rant, and the other has been intended to remove 



the horn and in- 

 cise it in cases of 

 disease (fig. 2). 



These are the 

 only relics of 

 Roman farriery I 

 have been able to 

 trace ; and their 

 having been found 

 fig. 2 at the capital of 



that empire, would show that the hoofs required paring 

 and dressing, and that this was of frequent occurrence, 

 since the mulomedicus was bound to be satisfied with a 

 fixed price for performing that duty. Vegetius recom- 

 mends the employment of such instruments. 



Apsyrtus (a.d. 330 — 340), a Greek of the Byzantine 

 empire, and one of the most renowned veterinarians of 

 this period, who was employed in the army of Constantine 

 the Great, says that those horses which have a small frog 

 are swift of foot and valuable ; ' and those which have their 

 frogs growing close and small were best for work.^ Lead- 

 ing us to infer that those horses which had wide flat soles 

 and prominent frogs, being unshod were liable to become 

 lame from bruises to these parts. 



Palladius Rutilius Taurus ^milianus (a.d. 300 — 400) 

 advises that strong oaken planks be laid down as a floor- 

 ing for stables, and that straw be laid over them at night 



' Apsyrtus, Scrip. Graec. Vet. p. 2152. y>.{Kil6va Vi yuK^av tynvrtc. 

 vi)-KohtQ, Kn\ ayadol. 



' Ibid. Ol (7vii(j)vtic KUTOjdtr kqJ xtXi^uyaQ f^uKpag tx^ovrtg. 



