10 



ARTISTIC HORSE-SHOEING. 



and then if this nail was clinched it would hold the iron 

 shoe on the foot. No improvement over this system ol 

 fastening- has been made, but vast improvements have been 

 made in the nails by which the shoes are driven on, and 

 also in the sho^s themselves. 



The horse, in a state of nature, requires no shoes. 

 The natural growth of the hoof is sufficient to take the 

 place of any ordinary wear, such as a horse would be 

 subjected to in the process of hunting" for its food in a wild 



Fig. 1.— Ancient Arabian Shoe. Fig. 2.— Modern Arabian Shoe. 



state. When brought into the service of man, and com- 

 pelled to use his feet on hard roads or pavements, the hoof 

 of course naturally wears away i^apidly. To prevent this 

 wear the horse is shod, and the original idea of a shoe was 

 simply to prevent the hoof wearing* away. 



To give the reader of this volume an opportunity to com- 

 pare modern horse-shoes with man's first idea of a horse- 

 shoe we present herewith several illustrations of shoes such 

 as the Arabs and other European nations used centuries 



