Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-03-10
Written for the CITIZEN
HORSE SHOEING AND ITS
ORIGIN.

The origin of horse shoeing is a
subject which has been enlarged upon
by numerous writers. Although the
horse is frequently alluded to in the
Scriptures, there is nothing said of his
being shod Among the early Greeks
and Egyptians the art was unknown,
although by carelessness or license in
the translation of classical history, the
idea has been given in some instances
that the hoofs of horses were shod,
sometimes with iron, sometimes with
brass. There is no foundation for such
supposition, at least so far as protect
ing the sole of the foot with metal is
concerned There is no doubt that the
first shoeing of the horse was Of leather,
attached with thongs, as sandals were
with men. In Egypt this method of
protecting the camels' feet with raw
hide attains to the present day. In
Japan, before the introduction of the
iron shoe, the horses Wore shoes of
straw, as many as half dozen sets
being worn out in days journey.
In the wars of the ancient Greeks and
Romans immense bodies of cavalry
were rendered useless, because the
hoofs of the horses were worn away
during long and fatiguing marches.
The flimsy protection spoken of not
being of material use, various methods
were resorted to of hardening the hoof,
such as paving q track with small
round stones, so that by long continued
travelling upon them the hoots might
acquire hardness. From the use of
rawhide, rushes, etc, the translation
to metal productions for the horses
hoof was natural; by virtue of neces-
sity.
The question is: "When was the art
originated. and where ~ Fleming, in
his recent work, is inclined to think
that the Celts or Gallo Celts were the
originators of the art. Now, there is
no proof of this, as the use of iron
was not known to that people, nor
have shoes of bronze or any other ma
terial been found among their remains.
In the British Isles, horse shoes of
the Romano-British period have been
found, and almost all of them on Ro-
man sites. We will go back. Memo
phon and Vegetus, both of whom lived
some centuries before Christ, in their
works do not speak of horse shoes,
although they both wrote upon the
horse. Neither did their contempora-
ries of other nations speak of horse
shoes. Catullus and Appian, Roman
historians, the first of whom lived in
the century before Christ, the latter in
the first century A. D., wrote upon the
horse. Catullus speaks of shoes made
of iron, wire, or plate iron. Appian
also speaks of an iron shoe. Catullus,
who died in the year 40 B. c., lived in
the time of Julius Caesar. Fifty-fve
wears before the birth of Christ, Caesar
invaded Britain, and although coming
with fire and the sword among the
savage islanders, he brought civiliza-
ton in his train. Now, here is Gu
rious circumstance In Norfolk, Eng
land, among other remains, were found
Roman urns, and horse shoe of a
peculiar shape, being round and broad
in front, very narrow at the heels,
pointing inward, and with the nail
holes still perfect. Diodarus, a Greek,
lived in Cesar's time, and did not
speak of horse shoes. Catullus, a
Roman, who also lived in Casar's
time. did speak of them, although no
contemporary of his time did Is this
not conclusive evidence that they came
into use in C9sar's time, and origi-
mated with the Romans? Leo, the
philosopher, Emperor of the East, who
reigned in the ninth century, speaks of
horse shoes, which he called by the
Greek name selenaia, from their moon
shape, and that description answers
exactly TO the shoe found in England.
In fact, that shape was preserved Tor
many decades, as is proved by many
prints and works of the old masters.
IF the art of horse shoeing hat. been
in vogue in the East, it is not likely
that Leo would have called the shoe
by the foreign name. Some writers
contend that the art originated IN
Greece. because Leo used a Greek
word. He simply did so because it
was most expressive, the shoe resem-
bling the Ottoman symbol-the cres-
cent-in shape As an offset to such
a supposition, we will say that the
word Efarrier" is derived from .terrd-
rius. Ga worker in iron) from the
Latin. There is no doubt that the art
was invented by the Romans, and
from them it extended to other people.
AS the face of the country changed,
| and as the military power OF the Ro-
mans became mightier, cavalry being
the most important branch of the SER
vice, they were forced to render their
animals serviceable, in order to extend
their conquests. In the East there
was no necessity for artificial protec-
ton to the hoof, as from the dryness OF
| the soil and the even temperature OF
the air, the hoofs became firm and
tough. Thus it is easily seen that me-
cessitv first brought about the shoeing
of horses with metal, and practice con
6rmed the custom. The gold and sill
yer shoes of Nero's mules were sup
posed by some to have been simply
plates of those metals, inclosing the
walls of the hoof There is no foun
dation for such a supposition, as the
present form of shoeing was before his
time. The system inaugurated by the
Romans spread throughout Europe
| During the Anglo-Saxon period the
art was practiced with clamps, so thai
| they could be detached at pleasure
In the eleventh century, l think, W.
have the first written intimation tha
oxen were shod for travelling. Guiber
de Nogent, a contemporary OF Peter th'
Hermit, in describing the eXcitemen
attending the preaching of that worth,
in favor of the crusades and the rescu'
of Jerusalem, gives as an Illustration