Scientific American Supplement No. 819, September 12, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement No. 819, September 12, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Aside from the so-called "Kureisen" (cure shoe) for diseased hoofs, we
find very little from the Romans on horseshoeing or hoof protection,
and therefore we must observe special precautions with all their
literature on the subject. It is because of this that I excuse Prof.
Sittl's communication in the preface of Winckelmann's "Geschichte der
Kunst in Alterthum" (History of Ancient Art), which contains a notice
that Fabretti, in some raised work in Plazzo Matti, of a
representation of a hunt by the Emperor Gallienus (Bartoli Admirand
Ant. Tab. 24), showed that at that time horseshoes fastened by nails,
the same as to-day, were used (Fabretti de Column. Traj. C. 7 pag.
225; Conf. Montlanc. Antiq. Explic. T. 4, pag. 79). This statement
proves itself erroneous, because he was not aware that the foot of the
horse was repaired by an inexperienced sculptor.
How then did out of this Roman cure shoe develop the horseshoeing of
southern Europe?
It was to be expected, with the Roman horseshoe, that the mode of
fastening became unsatisfactory and necessitated a remedy or change.
An attempt of this kind has been preserved in the so-called
"Asiatischen Koppeneisensole" (Asiatic cap-iron-sole) (Fig. 3), which
the Hon. Mr. Lydtin at Karlsruhe had made according to a model of the
Circassian Horse Tribe Shaloks, and also according to the reverse of
Lycian coins (called Triguetra).
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
This horseshoe plate, likely originating in the twelfth century,
covers the whole surface of the sole, like the Roman shoes, with the
exception of the wall region, which contains a rim 1 centimeter high,
and above this rises at one side toward the heel three beak-like
projections, about 4 centimeters high and 1 centimeter wide at the
base, being pointed above and turned down, which were fastened in the
wall of the hoof, in the form of a hook.
This mode of fastening evidently was also insufficient, and so the
fastening of the shoe by nails was adopted. These iron plates used for
shoes were too thin to allow nails with sunken heads to be used, so
only nails with blades and cubical shaped heads were applicable. These
nail heads, 6 to 8 in number, which left the toe and the back part of
the heel free, served at the same time to secure the horse from
slipping, which the smooth plates, covering the whole hoof surface,
without doubt facilitated.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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