When the monument to Childeric, the father of Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy, was discovered in 1653, a horseshoe was found therein. It was the custom then, as at one time among our own Indians, to bury the horse and his owner together.
Polydore Vergil writes, "Hos quoque Pelethronios Thessaliae primos equorum ungulas munire ferreis soleis coepisse ferunt."
As we have related in another chapter, William the Conqueror shod his horses.
The horse's foot is so apparently the most important part of him to his owner, that every horse owner should at least know the elementary first principles of the formation and shoeing of the foot and should always bear in mind, "no foot no horse." The foot is a sensitive structure, with two bones and part of the third, viz. the coffin-bone, navicular or shuttle bone, and the lower or smaller pastern bone enclosed in a horny case. This case is deepest in front where it is called the toe, and shallower at the sides which are called the quarters, and narrowest behind where it is called the heel. This outer case is fibrous, the fibres running from above to below as they grow from where the skin terminates, and consists of the outer case or wall and the bars, which are the continuation of the crust under the foot, and between the triangle of which lies the frog. (Plate XIX.)
The horse, as a wild animal left to care for himself, had a beautiful cushion, the frog, to run on, protected by the horny, tough case and bars, which renew themselves as do the nails of a man.
Hard roads, heavy weights to carry and to pull, and confinement in stables developed shoeing as a necessity.
Very few men own their horses; the horses are generally, except for a legal right which is a formality, the property of the coachmen and the blacksmith. They dictate when, and how, and how far they shall go, and the owner for lack of a little study of the subject accepts their say-so.
PLATE XVIII.—EXTERNAL PARTS OF THE HORSE