424 HORSESHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



use in this country. During the reign of Henry II. 

 (a.d. 1 154) armour became very heavy both on horse 

 and man, and the lance had grown so ponderous that it 

 could only be used couched ; ' great horses ' were therefore 

 required. These were probably the largest and strongest 

 of the imported, but light races. In the 13th century, 

 horses of greater size and power were eagerly purchased 

 on the continent, where attention had been recently paid 

 to rearing this kind of animal, and sent to England. 

 They were rare, however, and a pair from Lombardy, in 

 121 7, cost the enormous sum of .5^3 8 13.V. ^d. In the 

 rich pastures of the river Po, a race of ponderous destriers 

 or destrierus had been formed, which, if they at all re- 

 sembled those figured by the early sculptors on the 

 monuments and statues of Condotieri, were nearly equal 

 to our largest breed of dray-horses.' But these importa- 

 tions were so few in number, from the scarcity of the 

 horses and their great expense, that they could make but 

 little impression on the size of the common races in Eng- 

 land, and consequently would not alter, to any very ap- 

 preciable degree, the dimensions of the shoes. King John 

 imported 100 chosen stallions from Flanders, and these 

 were probably of large bulk and stature for those days ; 

 while King Edward II. purchased 30 Lombardy war- 

 horses and 12 heavy draught-horses. Up to this period, 

 I think we have only the small and medium-sized shoe, 

 with, or but seldom without, calkins ; and the rectangu- 

 lar, countersunk nail-holes, but destitute of a toe-clip to 

 catch the hoof in front and prevent the shoe driving 

 backwards. In the reign of the last-named monarch, who 



' Smith. Naturalist's Library, p. 140. 



