Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-21
WHO INVENTED HoRSESH0ES
Early Footsear for the Noble Brute
and It's Progress 20 Present
style.

Horseshoes were not known to the an
clients and there Is much doubt as to what
nation and age first used them. An author
ity ON the subject says: The first kind OF
shoe known was not a shoe at all, 1t was
a species OF sock, often made with woven
or plated hemp. Camels in ancient war
fare were thus shod, and so were mules and
horses when their hoofs were hurt. In
time of heavy snow these socks were neces-
sary to prevent the horses from sinking
up to their girths in the snow, according
to an old writer; similar socks are used
by the Russians in Kamtchatka for their
sledge dogs, and this kind Is provided with
little holes for the claws. Horse soles were
also made of woven broom, reeds and bast
strapped on, such as are still used in Japan,
where they are made by the children who
wait about the roads offering them for sale
at a low figure. The next step made by the
old Romans and Greeks seems to have been
the manufacture of leather soies and shoes,
but the great drawback to all these hoof
protectors was the CALLING OF the straps,
and they were really only OF substantial
use in the case OF baggage animals. or
when the road was rough and dangerous
Delays were often oocasloned by the shoes
sticking In the mud and letting the horse
go on In front.
$50 the old mule doctors had to devise
means Of hardening horses hoofs. One adj
vised stone slabs fastened with iron clamps
to the ground which formed the stable d;
another recommended oak flooring while
yet another prescribed the smearing of the
bottom Of the feet of draft animals with
pitch. The exact date when metal shoes
were first brought out is not known, but
1t il said that Nero had the mules attached
to 1000 carriages shod with silver sandals.
while Poppaea's mules were gold-shod.
These may be the hipposandals which have
been found wherever the Romans settled
in Germany, France and England. The
form OF the hipposandal varies; the COM
monest shape is an oval plate OF metal
drawn out backward on both sides. and in
some cases fitted with a curved hoof. There
are wings to the sides, and in front they
are furnished with eyes and rings. Another
kind is distinguished by the bending up
ward of the sides in front and behind.
suggesting to the eye the form of an an
cient galley. They were fixed to the hoofs
by straps passed through clips ana rings.
French Observation-Disclosures think that the
/ Celts were the first to use the nailed-on
shoes before the Christian era and that they
popularized their use throughout Gaul,
I Germany and England Many shoes have
| been found in graves. the favorite horses
having been slain and buried with their
masters in accordance with primitive be-
liefs as to the hereafter. Between the
French town OF Langres and Dion, near
the spot where Caesar encamped his army
at the siege OF Alesia (B. C. b2, small
fullered shoes have been found at a depth
of two or three feet in the ground. Some
! have nails in the shape of a Roman T
and are provided with clinches. Others
ascribed by biologists to the sixth CEN
fury have been found in the Bernese Jura.
All these had six large, round nail holes,
and opposite to each hole the border of the
shoe is scalloped. Some shoes had heels
and some had not; but the heels were
hardly of any size, and. moreover, lacked
| strength"