The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-07-07

at order called "KpIehts OF The Golden
( Horseshoe The badge was q golden
| horseshoe, bearing The Inscription " SIC
jurdf irdhsire Monies"
4 Xenophon, as your classical readers all
know. after the battle OF Cunaxa, Ted the
Greeks from the plains OF Babylon to their
homes. One OF your editors on not 10 per-
SOM has IN thought wandered over this en-
tire territory, around The Mediterranean,
| locating the Seven Candlesticks, and II he
will truce the course OF this expedition he
will End IL bad hard road to travel"
Unable TO cross the Tigris, the troops pass
ed over the mountains OF Armenia ana
crossed the river near its source, journey
of seven days; thence across Mount Teches
and the mountains OF Colchis TO Trebi-
zond. They encountered mountains. rocky
defjes, rapid and deep rivers, freezing
north winds, and snow six feet deep, men
losing their noses and eyesght. This dii-
ficult and perilous march was accomplished
with unsbod horses.
This same Xenophon, who has given an
accurate account of this expedition, has
also written q work on the care and man.
aeement Of horses, which the historian Rol-
| lin and the scientist Sir George Cox pro-
nounce valuable, the latter declaring 1t
should be used in the schools. Xecophon
! had seen all the hardships which oJIc
happen 10 horse inflicted upon hiu q -
ring The retreat OF the Greeks, ana that
he could stand them unshod. Nothing but
sort OF hurdle, fastened TO his feet TO
keep him from sinking In the snow, was
used. He says the hoof is made OF hard,
compact outer rind, the bottom OF an elastic
substance, the whole almost ;1sensible to
blows and designed by nature for the bard
est service, and that any thing that inter-
feres with the natural structure, or with its
expansion or elasticity IN any way, is an in
| Jury that horses are not injured by stand
| ing on stones-on the contrary, IL hardens
and coOls the hoois, while litter and soft
earth in their stables soiteDs them. This IN
accordance with well.knOwn physiological
law that every part OF living organism ac-
commodities itself to circumstances. The
hands of a laboring man become hard and
| csIlous, while those Of the non-worker are
soft and tender. He concludes that this
| Journey could have been performed only BIZ
unshod horses.
Paul Jones Courier, the French transla-
| tor OF Xenophon's treatise, was so struck
with the soundness of his views that he
putthem to the test by riding unshod horses
| in the Calabrian campaign Of 1907. The
English troops in India were compelled
during a meeting to ride unshOd horses, and
were never better mounted. In the French
retreat from Moscow the horses, moving
over ice and snow, lost most OF their shoes,
with but temporary inconvenience, and
Cortes conquered Mexico on unshod
steeds, the descendants Of which now Occu-
py the Mexican plains. In Peru and Brszll
horses travel over mountains with heavy
burdens unshod. 1t wonld, perhaps, be
uncandid TO say that temporary inconve-
nience, and perhaps injury, might not re-
suit in some cases from striking of sud-
denly every horses shoes. In paved cities
and along rocky roads there might be
some trouble mot, however, in Hanoyer),
but have shown the nature and
capabilities OF the horses hoof, and
the injury it has probably received
from constant shOeing. | venture to
say that horse which has never been shod
will never in this country, or perhaps any
where else, need shoe, and that bis step
will be lighter and trmer, his hos&s harder,
mis- legs freer from putfiness, and his useful
ness greater without them, while those
which have been shod for years will be bene-
flied by using them iUdiciously without
shoes until their hoofs resume their natural
hardness and insensibility. A good rasp
should be in every stable to keep the horses
feet symmetrical and nice. Try it, farmers,
and save your money. A. III. L.