ON HORSE-SHOES. 653 
strongest hoofs, and every means was resorted to to render 
them hard.* * * § 
Ancient authors speak of horses becoming useless after 
travelling a long distance. According to Diodorus Siculus 
(lib. xvii, 94), the horses in the army of Alexander the Great 
had their hoofs totally broken and destroyed by uninterrupted 
travelling. 
And Appian(in his c De Bello Mithridat J)j* relates that when 
Mithridates, King of Pontus, was besieging Cyzicus, he was 
forced to dispense with the use of his cavalry, because the 
hoofs of the horses were entirely worn out. 
These instances show how necessary it was to provide 
some strong defence for the hoof; and various contrivances 
seem to have been resorted to for this purpose at an early 
period. 
Amongst the first were probably shoes which inclosed the 
whole hoof, and which were woven of hemp, rushes, &c. The 
Romans called this kind of shoe “ solea spartea”% from its 
being made of the Spanish broom, spartum. It probably 
closely resembled the horse-shoe still in use in Japan, which 
consists of a basket in the form of a hoof, which is put upon 
the foot of the animal, and tied round the fetlock with a cord. 
Kaempfer, who visited Japan in 1690 and 1 (391^ says, in his 
history of that country, that “The horses* shoes are made of 
straw, and are fastened with ropes of the same to the feet of 
the horses, instead of iron shoes, such as ours in Europe, 
which are not used in this country. As the roads are slippery 
and full of stones, these shoes are soon worn out, so that it 
is often necessary to change them. For this purpose those 
that have the care of the horses always carry with them a 
sufficient quantity. They may, however, be found in all 
the villages, and poor children who beg on the road even 
offer them for sale, so that it may be said there are more 
farriers in this country than any other, though, to speak 
properly, there are none at all.’* 
The solea sjpartece must have required continual renewing 
in the course of a journey, and no doubt soon led to a more 
durable contrivance, for we find mention made of solece ferrece 
or iron shoes,§ and even shoes of more costly materials. 
* For contrivances to make the hoofs of horses harder and more 
durable, see Xenophon, 1 Be re Equestri,' cap. iv; and Yegetius, lib. i, 
cap. lvi, 2 ; and cap. xxviii and xxx ; also, lib. ii, cap. lvii and lviii. 
f Edit. Tollii, p. 371. 
% See Columell, vi, 12, 3; and Yegetius, Vet., lib. i, 2G, 3; lib. ii, 
45, 3. 
§ Catullus, xvii, 20. 
