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

by George Fleming

CHAPTER V.

shoeing among eastern nations. brand-mark of circassian horses. lycian triquetra. the hegira. tartar horse-shoes. the koran. introduction of shoeing to constantinople. arab traditions and customs. arab shoes, and management of the hoofs. syrian, algerian, and moorish shoes. horses on a journey. instinct of arab horses. arab method of shoeing. comparison between french and arab methods. cenomanus. strong hoofs. muscat. portugal, spain, and transylvania. central asia. john bell and tartar tombs. marco polo. cossacks. tartar songs. peking and its neighbourhood. chinese shoeing. shoeing bullocks. north american indians and parflêche.

At what period Eastern nations first began to apply an iron defence to their horses' feet, and attach it by nails, it is impossible to fix with certainty. An anonymous writer in the United Service Magazine for 1849, quotes the form of the most ancient Asiatic horse-shoe as being exemplified in the brand-mark of a renowned breed of Circassian or Abassian horses, known by the name of Shalokh.

fig. 68

'The shape is perfectly circular, and instead of being fastened on by means of nails driven through the corneous portion of the hoof, it is secured by three clamps (fig. 68), that appear to have been closed on the outside, or on the ascending surface. Of

fig. 69

fig. 70

the antiquity of this form of shoe there is no possibility of judging, because the exact counterpart of it existed already at the period when the Ionian Greeks had established fixed symbols as types of their cities and communities. It occurs on the coins of Lycia, and is known to numismatists by the name of Triquetra (fig. 69). If there be any difference, it is in a row of points on the Lycian type, as if the shoe had been perforated with holes for small nails (fig, 70); and what makes the selection of this object for a symbol of the region in question the more remarkable is, that, in remote antiquity, it was there Celtic breeders are reported to have first commenced their trade in mules. The horse-shoes of early historians, since they do not mention farriers, appear to have been of this Lycian form, or were not fastened with nails driven through the horny hoof. It is difficult to escape an admission that horse-shoes of this kind are as old as the Ionian establishments in Asia Minor, unless by denying that neither the Circassian brand-mark nor the Triquetra of Lycia represent them; a conclusion which at least is totally at variance with the denomination of the mark by which the Kabardian breed is known, time out of mind. . . . The round shoe of the old Arabian method is evidently a modification of the Circassian or Lycian, the outside clamps being omitted, and nail-holes substituted. . . . That the Arabs of the Hegira (A.D. 622), or within a generation later, shod their horses, is plain, if we believe the received opinion that the iron-work on the summit of the standard of Hosein, at Ardbeil, was made from a horse-shoe belonging to Abbas, uncle of Mohammed, by order of his daughter Fatima. "It was brought," says the legend, "from Arabia by Scheik Sed Reddeen, son of the holy Scheik Sofi, who was son of another holy villager, after the manner of the Moslem!" If the intention had been to advance a mere falsehood, it is to be wondered that Fatima, or the Prophet himself, should not have furnished a sacred shoe of one of the celebrated mares, from which sprung so many of the first breeds of Arabia, according to the assertions of devout Moslems. A horse-shoe most likely it was,' adds this writer, 'but how an uncle of Mohammed should possess horses when the Bein Koreish, as a tribe, were without, and the Prophet himself in the beginning of his career had only three, is quite another question.'

It appears very unlikely that such an article as that shown in the Circassian brand-mark could ever have been employed as a shoe, or fixed to the hoof by the three clamps indicated above; but to show that the Lycian triquetra could not be intended to represent a horse-shoe, I have copied in figures 68, 69, 70, and 71, this and similar impressions of coins. Figure 69 is the plain triquetra, from the original in the British Museum, and resembling Col. Smith's (who is, I believe, the author of the article just quoted from) Circassian shoe, in having no dots or points; 70 is the triquetra that the writer refers to; the original is in the Bibliothèque at Paris, but a drawing of it is given in Sir Charles Fellows' work on the Coins of Lycia.^[1] It will be seen that the points could not correspond to holes for small nails, wherewith to attach a shoe to a hoof, as they extend along the clamp which Col. Smith says was employed to grasp the front of the hoof. Fellows also gives a copy (No. 30) of a fourlimbed figure belonging to this class (fig. 71), the original being in the British Museum, and which could never be meant to represent a shoe.

fig. 71

Sir Charles Fellows does not attempt to explain the origin or import of the triquetra, and it would certainly require a lively imagination to associate it in any way with horse-shoes. On the contrary, a very frequent device on the ancient coins of Pamphylia is three human legs, arranged like the hooks on the triquetra, and the same as borne by the currency of the Isle of Man. Figure 72 is a copy of an ancient coin in the British Museum, which has neither prongs nor men's legs, but cocks' heads! Surely there is nothing here to offer the remotest conjecture as to the origin of Eastern shoeing!

fig. 72

Col. Smith asserts that 'there are indeed ancient Tartar horse-shoes of a circular form, apparently with only three nails or fasteners to the outside of the hoof;'^[2] but we may be pardoned for doubting the correctness of this statement.

That shoeing was known among the Arabs as early as the days of Mohammed, appears certain. In the chapter

1855. Fig. 25. I am greatly indebted to Mr A. T. Murray of the British Museum, for tracings and impressions of these interesting and rare coins. of the Koran entitled 'Iron,' it is written: 'We formerly sent our apostles with evident miracles and arguments; and we sent down with them the scriptures, and the balance, that men might observe justice; and we sent them down iron, wherein is mighty strength for war, and various advantages unto mankind, that God may know who assisted him and his apostles in secret.'

Sale explains the sentence, 'And we sent them down iron,' as follows: 'that is, he taught them how to dig the same from mines. Al Zamakhshari adds, that Adam is said to have brought down with him from paradise five things made of iron, viz. an anvil, a pair of tongs, two hammers (a greater and a lesser), and a needle.^[3]

In the chapter on 'Horses' we are also led to infer that shoeing was known. 'By the war-horses which run swiftly to the battle, with a panting noise; and by those which strike fire, by dashing their hoofs against the stones; and by those which make a sudden incursion on the enemy early in the morning,' etc.^[4] Unshod hoofs, one would be inclined to think, could not strike fire against the stones.

Heusinger^[5] quotes the names of several authorities who were of opinion that the art of shoeing was carried to Constantinople by the Germans. Certain it is, as has been already noticed, that the 'Tactita' of the emperor Leo VI., written at Constantinople in the ninth century, is the first writing in which modern shoes and nails are mentioned. The Byzantine emperors had a guard of honour composed of Saxons from a very early period of the empire.

Under the Emperor Michael of Constantinople (1038) the horses of the Greek cavalry were shod. The Sicilian horses also at that period had their hoofs protected in this manner.

The Arabs themselves say their first farriers came to them from towns on the sea-board: such as Fez, Tunis, Masarca, Tlemcen, and Constantine, since when their knowledge and their calling have been perpetuated in certain families from generation to generation.

The practice of shoeing among these people is curious, and would almost indicate an independent origin, as well as a high antiquity. Contrary to the accepted opinion, says General Daumas,^[6] the Arabs of the Sahara are in the custom of shoeing their horses, whether on the two fore-feet, or on all four, according to the nature of the ground they occupy. Those who shoe them on all four feet are the inhabitants of the stony districts, and these constitute the majority. It is the universal practice to take the shoes off in the spring, when the animals are turned out to grass; the Arabs asserting that care must be taken not to check the renewal of the blood which takes place at that season of the year.

The horse-shoes are kept ready made, and always command a sure sale, the Arabs being in the habit of laying in their supply for the whole year, consisting of four sets for the fore-feet, and four for the hind-feet. The nails are likewise made by the farriers. When a horseman goes to a farrier, taking his shoes with him, the latter is paid by his privileges, and when the horse is shod, its master gets on its back, merely saying: 'Allah, have mercy on thy fathers!' He then goes his way, and the farrier returns to his work. But if the horseman does not bring his shoes with him, he gives two boudjous to the farrier for the complete set, and his thanks are couched in the simplest formula of Arab courtesy. 'Allah give thee strength!' he says, as he takes his departure.

In the Sahara, in Syria, and throughout Arabia, the shoes are fitted in a cold state. In the foot of the horse, say the horsemen of these regions, there are hollow interstices, such as the frog, the heel, etc., which it is always dangerous to heat, if only by the approach of the hot iron. This aversion, founded on the destructive action of an extreme degree of heat on the delicate parts of the foot, is so strong among them, that in bivouacs, when the Arabs of the Sahara saw the French shoeing their horses, and fitting the red-hot shoes to the hoofs, they exclaimed, 'Look at those Christians pouring oil upon fire!' In a word, they cannot understand why—especially in long marches, when exercise makes the feet more vascular, any one should wish to increase this natural heat by the action of hot iron.

The shoes are very light, but made of well-hammered iron. In the fore-shoes, only three nails are driven in each side, through round holes which are close together. The toes remain free, as the Arabs say nails in that part of the foot would interfere with its elasticity, and would cause in the horse, when he sets the hoof on the ground, precisely the same sensation a man experiences from wearing a tight shoe. Many accidents, they assert, thence ensue. The hoofs are neither pared nor shortened, adds Daumas, and the horn is allowed to grow freely, the very stony ground and incessant work sufficing to wear it off naturally as it tries to get beyond the iron. The necessity for paring the feet is only perceived when horses have been for a long time fastened in front of the tent without doing any work, or have remained long in the Tell. In such a case, the Arabs simply make use of the sharp-pointed knives which they are never without. This method has the further advantage, that if a horse casts a shoe he can still proceed on his journey, as the sole remains firm and hard. 'With you,' they say, 'and with your practice of paring the foot, if the horse casts a shoe you must pull up, or see him bleeding, halting, and suffering.'

In Syria, however, the hoofs are shortened, and the wall pared level with the sole. The shoes are somewhat circular, or pear-shaped, and riveted, welded, lapped over, or left open at the heels. The annexed figures represent a Syrian shoe and nail (fig. 73); shoes and nails worn in the provinces of Constantine, Oran (fig. 74),

fig. 73	fig. 74

and Algeria (fig. 75); also a shoe from Morocco, found in a Moorish farrier's tent after the battle of Isly (fig. 76). The African shoes, it will be observed, are somewhat square at the toe and approaching the little V in shape.

fig. 75	fig. 76

The central opening is somewhat triangular, and in the Moorish shoe the heels are welded and bent up towards the frog. As the horse can only suffer in the part that is most sensitive, they think, and not in the part that is hard, it is, of course, the frog that should be shielded from accident. The shoes should therefore cover the frogs. But this practice, and the undue curvature they give to the heels of the metal plate, is productive of great injury to the parts they were intended to protect; pebbles and gravel insinuate themselves between the shoe and the frog, and seriously damage the latter; while the point of the shoe, pressing unduly on the heels, produces such pain that the poor horse is often compelled to walk on his toes. The sole pressure exercised by the shoe is decidedly beneficial, and explains in a great measure the almost total absence of contracted hoofs and various lamenesses which are the bane of our horses. They give to the nail-heads the form of a grasshopper's head, the only shape, they allege, that allows the nails to be worn down to the last without breaking. They approve of our method of driving the nails into the hoofs and clenching them on the outside, which prevents a horse cutting himself; but their scarcity of iron obliges them to content themselves with hammering the nail-points close to the face of the hoof, sometimes in a curled fashion, like the Celtic nails, so as to preserve them in a state fit for use a second time, by making a new head. If a horse over-reaches himself, they cut away his heels and place light shoes on his fore-feet, but heavier ones on his hind-feet. They are careful not to leave one foot shod and the other unshod. During a journey, if a horse chances to cast one of his fore-shoes, and his rider has not a fresh supply with him, he takes off both the hind-shoes and puts one of them on the fore-foot; and if the animal is shod only on his fore-feet, the rider will take the shoe off the other foot, rather than leave him in such a condition. Should a horse, after a long journey such as the horsemen of the desert not unfrequently make, require to be shod, it is no uncommon thing to place a morsel of felt between the shoe and the foot.

The necessity, caused partly by the nature of the ground, and partly by the length of their excursions, of shoeing the horses of the Sahara, has shown the expediency of accustoming the colt to let himself be shod without resistance. They therefore give him kouskoussou, cakes, dates, &c., while he allows them to lift his foot and knock upon it. They then caress his neck and cheeks, and speak to him in a low tone; and thus, after a while, he lifts his feet whenever they are touched. The little difficulty experienced at a later period, thanks to this early training, has probably given rise to the Arab hyperbole: 'So wonderful is the instinct of the thoroughbred horse that, if he casts a shoe, he draws attention to it himself by showing his foot.' This exaggeration at least proves how docile these horses are to be shod, and further explains how every horseman in the desert ought to have the knowledge and the means of shoeing his own horse while on a journey. With them it is a point of the highest importance. It is not enough to be very skilful in horsemanship, or to train a horse in the most perfect manner, to acquire the reputation of a thorough horseman; in addition to all this, he must likewise be able to put on a shoe if necessary. Thus, on setting out for a distant expedition, every horseman carries with him in his djebira shoes, nails, a hammer, pincers, some strips of leather to repair his harness, and a needle. Should his horse cast a shoe, he alights, unfastens his camel-rope, passes one end round the kerbouss of the saddle, and the other round the pastern, and ties the two ends together at such a length as will make the horse present his foot. The animal stirs not an inch, and his rider shoes him without assistance. If it be a hind-shoe that has been thrown, he rests the foot upon his knee, and dispenses with aid from his neighbours. To avoid making a mistake, he passes his awl into the nail-holes, in order to assure himself beforehand of the exact direction the nails should take. If, by chance, the horse is restive, he obtains for the hind-feet the help of a comrade, who pinches the nose or ears of the animal. For the fore-feet, he merely turns his hind-quarters towards a thick prickly shrub, or extemporizes another mode of punishment with a nose-bag filled with earth. Such cases, however, are rare.

The Saharenes declare that the French shoes are much too heavy, and in long and rapid excursions must be dreadfully fatiguing to the articulations, and cause much mischief to the fetlock joints. 'Look at our horses,' say they, 'how they throw up the earth and sand behind them! How nimble they are! How lightly they lift their feet! How they extend or contract their muscles! They would be as awkward and as clumsy as yours did we not give them shoes light enough not to burden their feet, and the materials of which, as they grow thinner, commingle with the hoof, and with it form one solid body.' When to these remarks General Daumas has answered, that he did not discover any of the inconveniences pointed out in the European mode of shoeing, the Arabs have replied: 'How should you do so? Cover, as we do, in a single day, the distance you take five or six days to accomplish, and then you will see. Grand marches you make, you Christians, with your horses! As far as from my nose to my ear!'

Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus,^[7] more than two hundred years ago, says that the shoes used by the Turks for their horses were in his day scarcely one-half the weight of the European shoes—one of the latter having material enough to make two of the former. The Turks were accustomed to buy the large and small shoes ready made, as at present, but the holes were not made in them. They were fitted to the feet, and the holes formed when required for use. The smith sat like a tailor with his legs doubled under him; and bending over the anvil, with a well-tempered punch and hammer the shoe was perforated, and another sharp square punch was twisted round in them to widen them to the proper size. The shoes had no calkins, as the horses did not require them either when at rest or when going at full speed, because of the nails with which they were fastened on, and which had large oblong heads, in shape like the heart of a pigeon. He also mentions that when horses were lightly worked, 'it was thought a good custom to shoe them only for half the year; so that, during war, the hoofs may stand wear a long time without shoeing.'

Though all the Arabs are cognizant of shoeing, and the advantages to be derived from it, yet, as we have seen, among the most valuable properties of a horse, they certainly attach very much importance to hard, strong, and sound hoofs. Abd-El-Kader explicitly mentions, that the best Arab horses for traversing stony ground without being shod, are those of the Hassasna tribe in the Yakoubia. Horses are not shod in Muscat,^[8] and nevertheless perform long journeys.

It may well be considered very strange that none of the celebrated Arab hippiatrists of the early or middle ages, and whose treatises are yet extant, speak of the farrier's art. My researches have been fruitless in this respect. Abou-Bekr, the author of Naceri, a popular Arab work on the horse, and which is supposed to have been written in the 14th century, never mentions it save as an orthopodic resource. Hizâm, an ancient veterinary writer, recommends castration for horses whose hoofs are naturally thin and undeveloped, on the supposition that the horn is always thicker and stronger in emasculated animals.

It is curious to observe, that the circular shoe is yet worn in some of the countries which were invaded by the Moors or Turks in the middle ages. The Portuguese, according to Goodwin^[9] and Rev,^[10] still employ it. It is the same flat plate of iron, with a sharp ridge round the outer edge, like the Syrian, Persian, Barbary, and Turkish shoes, but in substance it is thicker. It is flat on both sides; the nail-holes are of an oblong square shape, very large, and extend far into the shoe, which is nearly round, covering the bottom of the foot, except a small hole in the centre. The heel, however, unlike the others, is turned down to the ground, for greater security in travelling. The principle of nailing is the same as in the French shoeing, and being flat on both sides, is superior to both, in the opinion of Mr Goodwin (fig. 77).

fig. 77

Spain preserves the upturned heels, the plane surfaces, and the circular, sharp, projecting rim of the Oriental shoe. This may be accepted as a proof that the Moors shod their horses while occupying Spain; but as another proof that shoeing was practised in the 11th century, in the time of the Cid, we have the story of King Alphonso escaping from the captivity imposed upon him by Ali Maymon, the Moorish King of Toledo, and a certain Count Pedro Anserez, or Peransures, advising him to have his horse's shoes nailed on in reverse—heels to toe, and so mislead his pursuers. Alphonso effected his escape, though it is not mentioned whether this cunning device, which in after-ages was resorted to, had any influence in promoting it.^[11] Since the invasion of the Turks, their mode of shoeing has prevailed more or less in Transylvania, though the shoe somewhat resembles that of the Moors, but with more cover. The heels are brought together like the letter V, and welded so as to form a wide patch projecting behind. The holes, three on each side, are circular. 'Wherever the Mussulman has exercised his authority for any length of time,' says Defays,^[12] 'some traces of his shoeing remain.'

The Iberian peninsula has been successively invaded by the Romans, who introduced among the Lusitanians a branch of the wide-spread Celts; by the Germanic tribes—Alans, Suevi, Goths, and Vandals; and finally, by the Saracens, who were expelled after the decisive victory of Ourique. As a consequence of these invasions, it appears that at the present day we have traces of the characteristic shoeing existing which was practised by each of the foreign races.

The circular shoe, more or less modified in shape, prevails over a large extent of the continents of Africa and Asia, but we are left in grave doubts as to the origin of this particular form of hoof-armature. It displays a certain amount of originality, yet not sufficient, one would be inclined to think, to warrant the opinion that it was an independent invention. The form is but of secondary importance: garnishing the foot with a metallic plate, and attaching it by means of nails driven through the horny envelope, is the chief consideration. The paucity of written evidence in regard to the introduction or origin of this art among Eastern peoples, leaves us no room to hope for a satisfactory investigation of the subject. Many nations in Asia, though aware of its existence, yet never require its aid; while others resort to various contrivances instead. Yet among those who shoe their steeds, the practice appears to have been adopted at a comparatively recent period.

In the vicinity of Tomsk, on the upper Obi, far towards the high land of Central Asia, there are scattered a great number of tumuli, which for centuries had occasionally furnished rich spoils to the Calmuck Tartars, the present tenants of the soil. I find that the veracious old Scotchman, John Bell of Antermony, who travelled over-land from St Petersburg to Peking, in 1719, with a Russian embassy, mentions these mounds in the cradle land of our race. 'About eight or ten days' journey from Tomsky, in this plain, are found many tombs and burying-places of ancient heroes, who in all probability fell in battle. These tombs are easily distinguished by the mounds of earth and stones raised upon them. When, or by whom, these battles were fought, so far to the northward, is uncertain. I was informed by the Tartars in the Baraba, that Tamerlane, or Timyr-Ack-Sack, as they call him, had many engagements in that country with the Kalmucks; whom he in vain endeavoured to conquer. Many persons go from Tomsky, and other parts, every summer, to these graves; which they dig up, and find, among the ashes of the dead, considerable quantities of gold, silver, brass, and some precious stones; but particularly hilts of swords and armour. They also find ornaments of saddles and bridles, and other trappings for horses; and even the bones of horses, and sometimes those of elephants. Whence it appears, that when any general or person of distinction was interred, all his arms, his favourite horse, and servant, were buried with him in the same grave; this custom prevails to this day among the Kalmucks and other Tartars, and seems to be of great antiquity. It appears from the number of graves, that many thousands must have fallen on these plains; for the people have continued to dig for such treasure many years, and still find it unexhausted. I have seen several pieces of armour, and other curiosities, that were dug out of these tombs; particularly an armed man on horseback, cast in brass, of no mean design or workmanship; also figures of deer, cast in pure gold, which were split through the middle, and had some small holes in them, as intended for ornaments to a quiver, or the furniture of a horse. While we were at Tomsky, one of these grave-diggers told me, that once they lighted on an arched vault; where they found the remains of a man, with his bow, arrows, lance, and. other arms, lying together on a silver table. On touching the body it fell to dust. The value of the table and arms was very considerable.'^[13]

The Russian government at length sent officers to examine those tombs that had not yet been rifled; and, among others, they discovered one of three stone vaults, containing the skeleton of a man with costly arms by his side, resting on a plate of pure gold several pounds in weight; and another of a woman similarly laid on a gold plate, having bracelets and jewels of great value on the arms; while the third held the remains of a war-horse richly caparisoned, with horse-shoes on the feet, and metal stirrups for the rider. This tumulus, no doubt, contained the remains of some mighty Khan, though not of great antiquity, since the stirrups attached to the horse's saddle prove a comparatively late date. The shoes, by the form they displayed, may have been of European workmanship, and the whole deposit of the time of the great Tartar invasion of Russia and Poland, between 1237 and 1241.^[14] When the Tartars were visited by mediæval travellers, they were already in what has been called the iron stage of civilization. Marco Polo, who was one of these visitors, when travelling in Badakshan, in the 13th century, remarks that the country was an extremely cold one, but that it produced a good breed of horses, which ran with great speed over the wild tracts without being shod with iron.^[15] This notice would almost lead to the belief, that the people among whom he had been previously travelling had resorted to this defence, and it is also an evidence that he was acquainted with the practice in Europe.

Beauplan, travelling among the Tartars of the Ukraine and the Crimea in the 17th century, says that 'when the ground is hardened by frost or snow, the Tartars fasten (cousent) under the feet of their horses bits of old horn, with the intention of preventing their slipping and preserving their hoofs from wear.'^[16] Pallas writes of the Cossacks of Jaïk (Orembourg), that their horses are not shod, because the dry soil induces them to have very fine and very hard hoofs.^[17]

Wood, who travelled in Turkestan six centuries later, informs us that the Uzbeks shod their horses on the fore-feet, 'and the shoes are in shape a perfect circle.'^[18]

In one of the oldest Astrakan Tartar songs, composed towards the end of the 14th century, entitled 'Adiga,' and written in the Nogay-Tartar dialect, the extravagant fashion of shoeing is alluded to. A Mongol Khan was jealous of Adiga, a Tartar chief, who was in consequence compelled to fly to the desert. He was brought back, however, and offered a numerous stud of mares, that he might drink kumiss, and have the meadows of Karaday for the pasture of his hunting-horses, where they would be made fat as 'lions' thighs.' The Mongol, full of wrath because he would not accept this splendid offer, ordered many horses to be killed and a great quantity of mead to be brewed, in order to feast all the tribes whom he wished to assemble in conference before going to war with Adiga's people. None of his nobles could advise him; but they referred him to a sage named Sobra, who lived some distance off", and who could give advice. 'If so,' said the Mongol, 'then bid the horse be put to my golden chariot (kûs). Let the horses be shod with golden shoes and silver

par la gelée ou par la neige, les Tartares cousent sous les pieds de leurs chevaux des morceaux de vieille corne, afin de les empêcher de glisser et d'empêcher l'usure des pieds.' nails; and, having covered them with golden trappings, let them go and fetch Sobra.'^[19]

That horses were shod in this part of the world with plates like those now in use in Europe, in the 16th century, we find testified in another Tartar song on the capture of Kazan by the Russians in 1552. Alluding to the famous war-horse of a prince, it relates that 'under the feet of Argamack the horse-shoes look like new moons. Its tail and mane are painted with hennah; on its back hang silk trappings; on its neck, in a talisman, round like a ring, is a prayer.'^[20]

It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the neighbourhood of Peking, and from thence throughout Eastern Tartary, as far as I have travelled, shoes resembling in shape those of this country are in general wear. I could learn nothing of the antiquity of the custom in this remote part of the world; but the shoes are extremely primitive, and very like those we have been describing as Celtic. In journeying toward the eastern termination of the Great Wall, 'you cannot help bestowing a passing glance at the operations of the Ting-chang-ta, as the shoer of hoofs is denominated, for you may require his assistance frequently during your travel to secure your pony's clanking shoes, or to adjust a new pair; and you are certain to find him busy in the most crowded thoroughfare, or in the most stirring corner of the market-place. He is not, generally, a very bold man in his calling, nor has he much patience with skittish or unmanageable solipeds; for he too often makes it his practice to secure the unruly or vicious brute in the old-fashioned "trevises," or stocks—exact counterparts of those employed by country farriers in Britain and the Continent half a century ago—where it is firmly bound and wedged in by ropes and bars, and a twitch—an instrument of punishment still tolerated in other lands—twisted to agony round the under-lip of the subdued beast, until its extremities have been iron-clad. The more docile and submissive animal is less harshly dealt with, for it is allowed to stand untied, with one of its feet flexed on a low three-legged stool, while the workman shaves off great slices of superfluous horn from the thick soles, with an instrument which

fig. 78

differs in no particular that we can see from the now obsolete "buttress" of England, or the present boutoir of France (fig. 78). Perhaps a fidgety draught animal does not quite relish the idea of parting from its worn-out shoes; and the squeamish shoer, to avoid sundry uncomfortable contusions on his shins, stands some distance off, and hammers at the end of a long thin-pointed poker, inserted between the useless plate of iron and the hoof, to twist it off. Whether aware of it or not, like the French, the Chinese seem to prefer the foot in process of shoeing being held up by an assistant, instead of courageously grasping it as our farriers do. The Tartar ponies being light-paced and small, and the roads not very stony, the shoe is light, thin, narrow, and quite ductile. It is, in fact, nothing more than a slight rim of tough iron, pierced by four nail-holes, with a separate groove for the reception of each nail-head; and the heels are drawn so thin, that when the shoe is nailed on the foot they are bent inwards to catch each angle of the inflection of the hoof, and in this way support the nails (fig. 79).

fig. 79

Altogether, it is far more like one of our own horse-shoes than those of the Afghans, the Arabian or Barbary, or the Persian and Turkish curiosities, and certainly very far superior to the straw sandal everywhere used in Japan to protect the horses' feet. There is little care and a great deal of dexterity exhibited in nailing on one of these iron plates. The excellent strong feet of the ponies afford every facility for a rough-and-ready job. The overgrown horn is shaved away to a level surface; a single blow makes the shoe narrower or wider without heating: it is applied to the solid crust, and one by one the unbending nails are sent through the whole thickness of the insensitive part of the hoof with a few sharp taps, the tips of the nails being only simply twisted and hammered close to the face of the hoof; and the Wayland smith has earned his groat. At odd intervals one comes upon a group of these tinkers arming the hot, painful, road-worn toes of prostrate struggling bullocks with a nearly semicircular plate of metal on the outer margin of the hoof; and so smartly, that the bellowing creatures have hardly been thrown on the ground and secured than they are up again, proof against the hard, sun-baked roads.'^[21]

Perhaps we are not making a very wide ethnological jump, if we pass from this part of the Old World to the Rocky Mountains of the New Continent, and note the customs among the equestrian, though not horse-loving, tribes of Indians in that wild region. The horse has had but little influence in civilizing the many clans who have become horsemen since that animal was introduced by the early Spaniards, and they have done as little in attempting to prevent its degeneracy in their hands. Iron shoes are never worn on the hoofs, but when travelling over rock ground, and the unfortunate animals become footsore, a substitute for the metal is found in what is termed 'parflêche.' This is the untanned, sundried hide of the buffulo or elk, in which the pounded flesh or 'pemmican' made from these beasts is wrapped up and preserved, and on which these people largely subsist. The thick, hairy skin, I am informed, makes an excellent temporary covering for the foot, forming, when tied round the pastern, a convenient hoof-buskin, like that made from camel's hide in the Soudan.

1. Coins of Ancient Lycia before the Reign of Alexander. London, 1855. Fig. 25. I am greatly indebted to Mr A. T. Murray of the British Museum, for tracings and impressions of these interesting and rare coins.
2. The Natural History of Horses, p. 130.
3. Sale. Koran, vol. ii. p. 365.
4. Ibid. p. 440.
5. Op.cit., vol. i, p. 9.
6. Les Chevaux du Sahara. Paris, 1862.
7. Aldrovarudus. De Quadrupedibus, p. 50.
8. Stocqueler. Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage, vol. i. p. 7.
9. New System of Shoeing Horses, p. 167.
10. Traité de Maréchalerie Vétérinaire, p. 469. Lyons, 1852.
11. Chronica de Famoso Cavallero Cid Ruy Diaz Campeador, cap. 42. Burgos, 1593.
12. Annales de Méd. Vét., p. 260. Bruxelles, 1867.
13. Travels from St Petersburg in Russia to Diverse Parts of Asia, vol. i. p. 181. London, 1764.
14. United Service Magazine, 1849.
15. Narrative of the Travels of Marco Polo, p. 234. London, 1849.
16. Voyage au Midi de la Russie, 1680. 'Lorsque la terre est durcie par la gelée ou par la neige, les Tartares cousent sous les pieds de leurs chevaux des morceaux de vieille corne, afin de les empêcher de glisser et d'empêcher l'usure des pieds.'
17. Voyages, vol. ii. p. 107. 'On ne les ferre pas, parce que le sol sec leur procure un sabot tres-beau et tres-dur.’
18. Journey to the Source of the Oxus.
19. Chodzko. The Popular Poetry of Persia.
20. Ibidem.
21. See my 'Travels on Horseback in Mantchu Tartary,' p. 399.