652 
EVIDENCES OF THE ANTIQUITY OF ATTACHING 
THE SHOE TO THE FOOT OF THE HORSE 
BY NAILS. 
By M. J. Harpley, V.S., Royal Horse Guards. 
Dear Sirs, —During some leisure hours spent in the 
reading-room of the British Museum I came across a paper 
on Horse-shoes 39 in one of the 4 Journals of the Archaelogical 
Association/ which seemed to be of sufficient interest and 
importance to warrant its reprint in your valuable Journal. 
It is from the pen of H. Syer Cuming, Esq., one of the 
Honorary Secretaries of the Association (to which I have the 
honour to belong), and was read as an ordinary paper at one 
of the meetings, and was described by the author as contain¬ 
ing " examples, accompanied with some rough notes, in the 
hope of exciting an interest in this curious but neglected 
subject.” 
I am, dear Sirs, 
Y^ours very truly. 
To the Editors of ‘ The Veterinarian .’ 
ON HORSE-SHOES. 
By H. Syer Cuming, Esq. 
From the i Journal of the Archaeological Association 3 vol. vi. 
The slight attention which has hitherto been paid by 
archaeologists to the history of horse-shoes has induced me 
to bring before the association a few old examples, accom¬ 
panied with some rough notes, in the hope of exciting an 
interest in this curious but neglected subject. 
The Centauri, a people of Thessalia, were, in all probability, 
the first who secured and reduced the wild horse to the ser¬ 
vice of man ; hence arose the fable of the Centaurs, who 
were represented as half man and half horse. 
For a time the horse was employed without any protection 
to its hoofs ; but the rider must have soon discovered that 
they became injured by long journeys over rugged ground, 
and every care was therefore taken to obtain horses with the 
