Horse shoes and horse shoeing: their origin, history, uses, and abuses

Front matter

CONTENTS.

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The value of the Horse as a living Machine depends to a great extent upon his Feet. The care taken of them by Ancient People. Xenophon and his Advice. The necessity for Sound Feet. History of the Art of Shoeing. The Hoof in a Natural State. Effects of Domestication and Climate. The Persians, Ethiopians, Abyssinians, Tartars, Mongols, and other Nations. The Greeks. Difficulty in tracing the Origin of Shoeing. Scriptural Times. Homer, and ‘Brazen-Footed.’ Tryphiodorus. Bronze Shoes, and Shoeless Hoofs. Xenophon on the Management of Horses' Feet. Aristotle. Polydore Vergil. The Greek Marbles. Climate of Greece. Effects of Marching. Translators' and Commentators' Mistakes. Arrian and Artemidorus. The Coin of Tarentum.

Chapter I

HORSE-SHOES

AND HORSE-SHOEING.

CHAPTER I.

the value of the horse as a living machine depends to a great extent upon his feet. the care of them by ancient people. xenophon and his advice. the necessity for sound feet. history of the art of shoeing. the hoof in a natural state. effects of domestication and climate. the persians, ethiopians, abyssinians, tartars, mongols, and other nations. the greeks. difficulty in tracing the origin of shoeing. scriptural times. homer, and ‘brazen-footed.’ tryphiodorus. bronze shoes, and shoeless hoofs. xenophon on the management of horses' feet. aristotle. polydore vergil. the greek marbles. climate of greece. effects of marching. translators' and commentators' mistakes. arrian and artemidorus. the coin of tarentum.

The horse is justly considered, even in these days, when the application of steam power has to a certain extent limited some of his more important functions, one of the most tractable and serviceable living machines, viewing him as a motor, ever pressed into slavery by man, and consequently ranks high above all those crea which have submitted themselves to domestication and toil for the benefit of the human species.

The varied uses to which he has been subjected, since taken from a wild state, and the willing and cheerful manner with which he has undergone fatigue, and performed duties which are, one would think, quite foreign to his nature, have all been owing to his combined and unequalled qualities of strength, courage, speed, fidelity, and obedience, as well as docility; and though his great value depends essentially upon a just disposition of these, yet more especially is it as a living machine, capable of moving or producing motion, and communicating it to inert masses at all times and in nearly all situations, that he is to be prized.

Where, and at what period of the world's history he was first brought into a state of servitude; whether at one or more points of the earth's surface man commenced to utilize his noble attributes, we know not. Certain it is, however, that some of the pre-historic races of the human family sought his aid; and the ancient Aryans, more than three thousand years ago, as we learn from the Riga-Veda, in their home towards the upper valley of the Indus, loved and bred the horse, harnessed him to their chariots with spoked-wheels, and made him assume the principal part in their greatest religious sacrifices.

The history of mankind abundantly testifies, that every possible use and application of this animal, whether in war, commerce, or pleasure, seems to have been anticipated by the most ancient peoples; proving the earliest sense and conviction of his immense importance to man. Those old-world nations which, long ages ago, most largely employed the horse, were the great centres of antique civilization; and it may safely be asserted, that, without him, the human race could not have reached its present state of refinement, or have been able to contend against the numerous obstacles to comfort and happiness which have surrounded it; indeed, it has been said, that next to the want of iron, the want of horses would have been, perhaps, one of the greatest physical barriers to the advancement of the arts of civilized life.

Doubtless, what might be termed the moral qualities of the horse, had largely conduced to make him so serviceable in all ages, but by far the largest share must be attributed to those of a physical kind. Strength, speed, endurance, and astonishing alacrity have endowed him with his most useful characteristics, and given him the pre-eminence over all other domesticated animals; and these qualities again depend upon a marvellous adaptation of the organs and textures of which he is composed to the most varied requirements.

Cuvier has somewhere said of the horse, that but for the space of bare gum between the incisor and molar teeth which affords space for the insertion and action of the bit, it would never have been subjected to the power of man. Far rather with truth may it be said, that but for the horse being endowed with a hoof which covers and protects the most beautiful and delicate of structures, and which being solid and a slow conductor of heat and cold, fits it for travelling in snow and ice during the winter of northern regions, and in the burning sands of tropical climates, he would scarcely have proved himself worth the trouble of domesticating. Means could have been employed to ride and drive him without a bit in his mouth, but no invention or device of man could have compensated for the absence of his solid, hoof-cased foot. From the earliest ages, the attention of horsemen and horse-loving nations has been directed to the conservation or perfectioning of those attributes which make this everwilling slave so worthy of our admiration and gratitude; and those horses which had the best conformation, and proved themselves fleetest and hardiest, were ever selected as models for breeding and purchasing. And curiously enough, though it was not to be wondered at, nearly every one of the ancient writers, when speaking of the horse, centre their attention on his feet; no matter how beautifully formed the other points of his conformation may have been, if his feet were defective, all was bad. The excellent horseman and gallant soldier, Xenophon, to whose extant treatises on the horse we are indebted for so much of what we know of equestrian matters in the ancient world, tersely specifies how essential even in his day, when the uses of this animal were more limited, it was that he have good feet, or there was no profit in him. He says: 'In respect to the horse's body, then, we assert that we must first examine the feet; for as there would be no use in a house, though the upper parts were extremely beautiful, if the foundations were not laid as they ought to be, so there would be no profit in a war-horse, even if he had all his other parts excellent but was unsound in his feet; for then he would be unable to render any of his other good qualities effective.'

And from the days of Xenophon to the present, when the uses of the horse have been so multiplied and so much more necessary for our business or pleasure, the truth of this advice has been daily receiving confirmation, until the aphorism 'No foot, no horse,' has become a painful reality in modern days, though it is but a re-echo of what was enunciated centuries beyond two thousand years ago.

For the manifestation of his strength and the due performance of his useful qualities, the horse must, therefore, rely upon the soundness of his feet, as in them are concentrated the efforts created elsewhere; and on them depend not only the sum total of these propulsive powers being properly expended, but also the solidity and just equilibrium of the whole animal fabric. So that it is wisely considered that the foot of the horse is one of the most, if not the most, important part of all the locomotory apparatus; and that all the splendid qualities possessed by the noble creature may be diminished in value or hopelessly lost, if through disease or accident, natural or acquired defects, or other causes, this organ fails to perform its allotted task.

Seeing, then, the great interest which attaches to this animal, in its being of all creatures most concerned with man in promoting a progressive and long-continued civilization, and to the means and appliances which the lord of the creation has from time to time brought to bear in increasing the utility (would I could say comfort and happiness!) of this devoted servant, I have entered on the present inquiry into the origin and early history of what is generally looked upon as a humble art; for the simple reason that it affords us a glimpse, or rather a faint idea, of an obscure occupation, a modest handicraft, in a hundred-fold the value of the horse, and testifies to what an apparently insignificant operation very much of our immense progress in civilization has depended. I refer to the art of shoeing, by which, in arming that portion of the horse's hoof coming in contact with the ground, and sustaining the whole weight, while it receives the full force of the propelling power, would (in our northern climate, at least) under the strain of loadbearing or draught, soon be destroyed, and the animal rendered useless, injury is not only averted, but the utility and power of the horse are largely increased.

An art which has exerted some influence on the destinies of man, and lent its aid to the restless wave of human action, deserves some notice from those who care to note the sources and influences on which improvement and increased communication have relied; and if this be a modest one, it is at least endowed with all the more interest in consequence of its being so closely related to the conservation of the best qualities of the noblest quadruped on earth.

In a state of nature the hoof requires no protection. The solidity and toughness of its inferior border; the absence of artificial roads; nothing but the weight of the body to be supported; and the matter of which the horny case is composed never being subjected to any other influences than those which it is naturally adapted to resist, all tend to obviate any injurious amount of attrition in the roaming-at-will life of the feral horse. But in connection with climate, domestication alters, more or less, the conditions on which the horn depends for its integrity as an efficient protection to the highly sensitive and vascular textures it encloses. In eastern countries, where the climate is dry and the earth elastic and soft, and where the equine species is usually wiry and firm in its organization, with dense inflexible hoofs, an armature of any kind is seldom, if ever, required. Not unfrequently, however, we learn that the care and attention of the people who so employ horses is bestowed on the quality and resistance of the hoof; and as this has an important bearing on our inquiry, we will notice a few of the authorities who mention the fact. Thevenot informs us that the Persians cared little for shoes for their horses; the Ethiopians, in the time of Ludolphus, although they seldom rode, did not employ any defence for the hoofs, and when they had to travel over rough and stony ground, they dismounted and sat on the backs of mules, leading their horses in hand, so that these might tread lighter, and do their hoofs less damage. 'They do not defend their horses' hoofs with iron shoes; if they travel over rough and uneven ground, they lead them, and ride mules.' The same authority asserts that the Tartars, who ride so much, never shod their steeds. 'In the winter time, when, on account of the frost, roads are rough and hard, they cover their horses' feet with the recently flayed hide of cattle, if nothing else is at hand.'

A recent traveller in Abyssinia states that the horses and mules of that country are not shod. The wandering Mongols who roam between the Great Wall of China, the desert of Gobi, and the Russian frontier, with their flocks of sheep and droves of horses and cattle, do not employ shoes for their hardy but uncouth solipedes, according to the account of my friend and fellow-traveller, Mr Michie. Whenever a pony selected from a drove has become footsore from being ridden too long a time, the rider dismounts, a fresh steed is caught from the crowd, and the hoof-worn one is set at large again, to recover as it best may the loss it has sustained. So that a traveller often requires to change his invaluable steed when crossing these inhospitable wilds. But in this there does not appear to be any difficulty, as an exchange can be readily effected by paying a slight difference to the nomadic owner of a drove, who knows that by allowing the lame creatures to pasture quietly for a few weeks, they will soon have replaced the lost horn, and be as serviceable as ever.

It would appear, however, that horses are sometimes shod here, but they may only be Russian ones. Timkowski in travelling through this country, and when at a halting-place, writes: 'While the smith was shoeing our horses, a lama, who kept walking about, and seemed very attentive to what he was doing, suddenly mounted his horse and galloped away. It was afterwards discovered that this priest had stolen one of the smith's tools.'

Marco Polo, in the 13th century, travelling in Badakshan, says: 'The country is extremely cold, but it breeds very good horses, which run with great speed over these wild tracts without being shod with iron.'

The Tanghans, or Tibetan ponies Hooker saw in the Himalayas, are described as wonderfully strong and enduring. They are never shod, and the hoof often cracks and they become pigeon-toed.'

Horses are never shod in the Moluccas, or the Straits of Malacca. With regard to Java, Sir Stamford Raffles says: 'Horses are never shod in Java, nor are they secured in the stable as is usual in Europe and Western India. A separate enclosure is appropriated for each horse, within which the animal is allowed to move and turn at pleasure, being otherwise unconfined. These enclosures are erected at a short distance from each other, and with separate roofs. They are generally raised above the ground, and have a boarded floor.' The same kind of floor is in use at Manilla.

Lichtenstein remarks of the Cape of Good Hope horses, that, owing to their being accustomed from their youth to seek their nourishment upon dry mountains, they are easily satisfied, and grow so hard in the hoofs that there is no occasion to shoe them'.

Anderssen, describing some of his journeys in South Africa, says: 'On an after-occasion, I remember to have performed upwards of ninety miles at a very great pace, only once or twice removing the saddle for a few minutes. And be it borne in mind that the animals were young, differently broken in, unshod and had never been stall-fed.’

Dr Browne reports of the horses in Jamaica: ‘They are generally small, but very sure-footed and hardy, which renders them extremely fit for those mountainous lands; and their hoofs are so hard that they seldom require shoes; but this is the effect of the heat of the country and dryness of the land.’

Iron shoes are not used for horses in Japan, and Head, in his ride across the Pampas of South America, tells us that shoes are utterly unknown to all the South American country horses. ‘But even when unshod, the wear of their boundless plains, on which scarcely a stone is seen, is so insignificant, that to keep the hoofs of a proper length, they have even to be shortened by the hammer and chisel.’ Another traveller in that region asserts that the mule of the Peruvian Sierras, with its massy and wellrounded hoof, needs no shoes on hard or soft ground, in summer or in winter.

Clark says of the north of Sweden: ‘Neither the men nor their horses are shod, but go bare-footed. In some parts of Sweden, as at Naples, the hinder feet only of the horses are left unshodden; but here horses of a beautiful breed were put to our waggon, without a shoe to any of their feet, as wild and fleet as Barbs;’ and again, when entering Finland from Sweden, he writes: ‘The horses are, as usual, small, but beautifully formed, and very fleet. The peasants take them from the forests when they are wanted for travellers, and, with very little harness, fasten them to the carriage. In this state, they are without shoes, and seem perfectly wild; but it is surprising to observe how regularly and well they trot.’ Brooke, however, remarks, that ‘so dangerous are the wolves in some parts of Sweden that the peasants, on turning their horses out, generally tip their feet with iron, by which means of defence they are frequently enabled to beat off their ferocious assailants.’

It is well known that in many southern regions there is but little need for any attempt at shoeing. The littoral of Libya, and some parts of Arabia and Persia, furnish examples. In Tartary, whole tribes ride horses without shoes of iron, and in Senegal the French squadron of Spahis have no farriers, for the simple reason that they have no shod horses. In the East Indies, among some races shoeing is far from general.

So we can easily understand, that in certain parts of the world, horses have been and can be made serviceable to a certain extent without employing an iron defence. If one may judge from the paintings of Ancient Egypt and the sculptures of Assyria, where we see the horse portrayed with great skill, and with that minute perception of his external form which seems to us even now very remarkable, no protection for the hoof was ever had recourse to, and no remains of anything bearing a resemblance to such an appliance have been found. And though these countries were acquainted with many arts, and had attained a comparatively advanced state of civilization, in which the horse played no insignificant part, yet in the absence of this craft, even with their favourable climate and soil, the use of this animal must have been but limited, compared to what it is in our own days. It is only when we reach the period in which the ancient Greeks begin to figure in history, that doubts and inquiries arise among modern investigators with regard to a real iron or other metal shoe being employed; and for nearly two hundred years, various writers have spared neither time nor patience in attempting to arrive at some definite conclusion as to whether or not the Greeks and Romans were cognisant of this art, or at what period it first became known.

With the spread of civilization, the demands upon the services of the horse became, doubtless, very much extended; and the diversity of climate, as well as of races, would lead one to suppose that greater wear and modifications, more or less wrought in the nature and consistency of the hoof, must at an early period have rendered some kind of defence absolutely necessary; and that this again would be mentioned in the writings of men who largely devoted their attention to the welfare of this animal. Nevertheless, the antiquity of shoeing, notwithstanding the well-directed labours of many learned men, is yet a subject admitting of considerable diversity of opinion, simply because of the absence of written documents, or records of a positive character, by which this art could be traced to its origin in any particular part of the world. True, there would not probably be much gain in finally deciding as to which race of the human family, or to what age, the successful utilization of the horse by arming its hoofs with a hard rim of metal is due; and it would, perhaps, be more satisfactory and instructive to trace briefly the progress of the art from its earliest known introduction into the social economy of civilized nations, up to the present time, than attempt to seek its inventors in the perplexing obscurity surrounding this subject. But, as before noticed, the interest which attaches to all that pertains to the horse, and particularly to the management of its feet, by those people who were among the first to discover the beauties and merits of that noble animal, and to press its strength, fleetness, courage, and endurance

into their service, is a great inducement to review, in as graphic a manner as possible, all that has been said in relation to the existence, non-existence, or status of this art among them. And in this inquiry the poet, painter, and sculptor have some interest, inasmuch as the correctness or incorrectness of their delineations, when this apparently trifling detail comes to be treated, will depend. This will be exemplified hereafter.

It is a remarkable circumstance that, considering the mighty influence the horse has been called on to exercise on the destiny of nations and the progress of civilization from the earliest times,—at one period an important adjunct to luxury, as well as a mainspring of utility; at another, an essential element in the arts of peace, and a still more potent one in that of war,—the first written indication of horse-shoeing (as we now understand the term) is only found in the annals of a comparatively recent period. The knowledge of being able to defend from undue wear and injury such an important organ as the horse's foot, and by such an efficacious, yet simple means, one would think indispensable to those who, in primitive times, so largely employed horses, and sought from them such important services. Such is not the case, however, if an entire omission of the fact in their writings or on their monuments be received as proof; and though several authors of some weight have in recent years asserted that the ancients were acquainted with this art, and have adduced evidence which appears to substantiate their opinion, yet a careful examination of the times and the meaning of the texts has, in nearly every case, tended to lead others to the opposite conclusion.

That shoeing was not known to Old Testament people, no one has yet, so far as I am aware, offered a doubt. Deborah (B.C. 1296) sings, ‘Then were the horse-hoofs broken by the means of their prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones;’ or, as it might perhaps more correctly be rendered, ‘Then did the horses’ hoofs smite the ground, and were broken from the haste of their riders.’ Isaiah (b.c. 760), in the grandly prophetic language in which he foreshadows the downfall of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome, mentions the hoofs of their horses and what was esteemed their best quality. He says, ‘Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.’ And Jeremiah (b.c. 607), when foretelling the punishment of the Philistines, says: ‘At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots.’

It is in Homer (B.C. 1000) that we find some investigators contending for the first notice of a metallic footdefence. Among these appear Fabretti, Bourgelat, Montfauçon, Cuming, and a few others. In reality, however, it was Eustathius, who lived in the 12th century, who, in his Commentaries on Homer, first speaks of that poet mentioning horses as shod. In the ‘Iliad’ (Book xi., lines 150-2) occurs the passage noted by Eustathius:

And this striking picture has been thus translated by a recent and celebrated scholar :

This it will be readily perceived is an error. The passage, literally rendered, ought to read something like the following : ‘Foot on foot and horse on horse, they perished forcibly while flying; and under them the dust arose from the plain, and the loud-sounding (crushing or thundering) feet of the horses raised it.’

The word is ἐρίγδουποι. Another translator of the Iliad renders this passage :

In another place (Book viii., lines 44-5) Bourgelat, Cuming, and others, found their opinion in favour of the Greeks having shod their horses at this early period, on the fact that Homer speaks of Jove's horses as

The translation of χαλχόποδ’ ῖππω is correct, and is rendered so by Chapman, an old versifier :

The ‘brass-hoof’ was undoubtedly used by Homer in a metaphorical sense to denote firmness and solidity, not a hoof shod with brass; it was meant to convey an idea of the really good qualities of the horn in those days, and which, not being garnished with a defence of brass or bronze, was ever in danger of being destroyed when of a weak nature. Besides, brazen-footed and solid or strongfooted (χρατερωνυξ) appear to be synonymous terms; thus (in Book xxii., lines 192-3) he sings of the time

‘When the solid-footed horses fly Around the course, contending for the prize.’

And again (Book xxiv., line 331), strong-hoofed mules are mentioned. The terms were used for many purposes, but never as an indication of shod hoofs. Homer made Achilles and Stentor brazen-voiced. Bulls, fabular stags, and horses, had solid or metallic feet. Thus Pindar(B.C. 520) tells us that Bellerophon was enjoined to sacrifice a strong-footed bull to the mighty encircler of the earth before subduing the winged horse Pegasus; and we find that the Grecian heroes who went in search of the golden fleece would all have been destroyed by the brazen-footed bulls, from whose nostrils flames issued, had not Medaea interposed and driven away these taurine monsters belonging to King Ætes. Virgil frequently mentions animals of various kinds with metal feet, and Ovid also alludes to them oftener than once. And an older authority than either of these, and next to Homer himself, the prophet Micah (B.C. 710), exclaims: ‘Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people.'

So that really there is no foundation for supposing that the words quoted bear any reference whatever to shoeing. Homer is very minute in some of his descriptions of horses, chariots, armour, and equipment, but there is nothing particular in his poem to lead any one to suspect that the steeds of his warriors were shod. Had they been so, or had he been aware of the art, we can scarcely doubt but he would have introduced some notice of it; entering as he does into so many particulars about horses, which were, next to man, the chief figures in his word-pictures. For instance, he speaks of the method of securing horses; Neptune's team was stabled in a cave

‘Twixt Tenedos and Imbro's rocky isle.’

After driving the brazen-footed steeds through the sea, skimming the waves of blue, Neptune takes them to his retreat, then

‘Loosed from the chariot, and before them placed Ambrosial provender; and round their feet Shackles of gold, which none might break nor loose, That there they might await their lord's return.’

As Homer's famous epic describes the misfortunes and the siege of Troy, occurring about twelve hundred years before our era, it is important that the words supposed to denote shoeing be properly understood.

A passage from the Greek poet Tryphiodorus has often been quoted to support the argument in favour of Homer's brazen-footed horses being provided with shoes; and it has been asserted from this passage that shoes of a description similar to those now in use were known at the siege of Troy, because this poet, when speaking of the fabrication of the Trojan horse, mentions that the artist did not forget to put the metal or iron on the hoofs of that wooden machine, in order to make the resemblance more complete. It must be remembered, however, that Tryphiodorus flourished at some period between the third and sixth centuries of our era, when, as will be shown hereafter, this art was not unknown; and as the poem is of comparatively modern date, he may have introduced imaginary shoes to make his picture more complete, just as some of the modern translators of the Iliad have done, but without the slightest authority, to prove that these were in use at the time of the war between the Greeks and Trojans.

In his verses, however, I can find no proof of any such intention, nor any mention of an iron rim for the wooden horse's hoofs.

A literal translation of the original Greek is as follows: ‘Then at length he finished the work, the hoofs appearing not without brass, and shone forth, being covered with tortoise-shell.’ Dr Merrick, who furnishes a Latin and English version, renders the passage thus:

‘To deck each hoof and grace the artist's skill, The clouded tortoise yields her polished shell.

There has been nothing more advanced, so far as I am aware, to prove that the ancient Greeks were cognizant of hoof defences, as we now employ them, except the finding of a horse's hoof (of stone?) in the ruins of the Parthenon. In alluding to this, Mr Syer Cuming, who appears to have taken some interest in the subject, asks, ‘Does not Homer allude to shoes when he speaks of “brazen-footed horses?” (χαλκοποδες ἱπποι). Mr Cureton informs me that he has seen horse-shoes of bronze.’

And at a later period he writes, ‘Since the publication of my paper a few facts have come to light, which tend to prove in an eminent degree the assertion therein advanced, namely, that the horses of the classic ages were shod in a similar way to those of our own day. At the time the paper was produced, we had little to countenance the idea that the early Greeks protected the feet of their steeds with metallic shoes, beyond the bare fact that some ancient horse-shoes of bronze were known to be in existence, and the poetical mention of “brazen-footed horses” in the Iliad (viii. 41, xiii. 23). Within these few years, however, Mr Charles Newton, while Vice-consul at Mytilene, found among the fragments of the Parthenon, a horse's hoof with holes all around the inside, clearly indicating where a metallic shoe had been fastened, and it is quite unlikely that any such defence should appear upon a statue if a similar article had not been in actual use at the time.'