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hoofs were unprotected, and the paved streets, which are so hurtful to 

 them, did not exist ; in the meantime, lameness must have occurred 

 from time to time, either beco.use of the soft nature of the hoof or be- 

 cause horses went too fast or t do long 1 upon the high way. To remedy this 

 nuisance, the Greeks and Romans first strapped to the hoof a kind of 

 sandal, made of braided reeds, or of leather, and strengthened these soles 

 occasionally with an iron plate or even with plates of gold or silver, as 

 was the case with the horses of Nero or Pappaea. The horse shoe, in 

 its present shape, was invented in the fifth century after Christ ; later, 

 the shoe was not only a means of protecting the feet, but to prevent 

 deformity and disease of the hoof, or to cure the same. (Dietetic and 

 Therapeutic shoeing.) 



It is said of the Greeks that sometimes they tied two or three sad 

 die horses together, and alternately swung themselves upon one or the 

 other while going at full speed ; of course this -was not an occurrence 

 common in ordinary riding, and Homer speaks of it, as a proof of their 

 great ability in the art of riding, aai it shows that the Greeks took 

 great pains in breaking and training their horses. As above mentioned, 

 the horse was in many countries first used to pull -wagons, and the 

 same may be said of Greece in its earliest periods. During the siege of 

 Troy which lasted for ten years, not a single rider is heard of, all war- 

 riors fighting on foot or from their chariots ; it appears though, that 

 chariots rarely met in combat but drove swiftly over the battle grounds, 

 the -warrior throwing his spsars in both directions, and when he 

 found an adversary, whom he thought his equal, they halted, dismount- 

 ed and fought on foot. The chariots were made for the purpose, and 

 decorated with great pomp, the victor keeping the chariot of the defeated 

 as booty. In some instances, three horses were hitched before the 

 chariots, the third figuring as a reserve, in case one of the otherj should 

 become exhausted, or be wounded. Hector's chariot was drawn by 

 four horses. The charioteers, although subordinate to the warriors- 

 were rarely selected from among his servants, often it -was a trusted 

 friend of the combatant, or else a charioteer of profession. Even Hector 

 and Nestor drove the chariots of others. 



The attachment of scythe shaped blades to the war chariots -was not 

 customary with the Greeks or Romans ; they could only be used in open 

 fields, and not uncommonly they caused disturbance among their own 

 ranks, "when the horses became shy and unmanageable from noise and 

 other causes ; their use therefore, -was soon discontinued. In the course 

 of time this was the case with all the war chariots, and the higher class 

 of warriors preferred to fight on horse back, -where personal bravery 

 and strength could be shown as well, and better order kept in battle. 



Up to the Christian era, and in some countries until later, the use of 

 the horse was confined to war, hunting and for pomp in festivities , 

 Then racing was instituted partly for the purpose of comparing the 

 value of different horses, and to reward their owners; and partly to give 

 more splendor to religious celebrations. The most famous of these sp ec 

 tacles was given every fourth year in honor of Jupiter, during the 

 olympic games; however, almost a century elapsed until horse racing 



