_Translated by S.E. Weber, V.S.[1]_
[Footnote 1: From _Theirarztliche Mittheilungen_, organ des
Vereins badischer Theirarzte, Karlsruhe, No. IV., April,
1891.--_Veterinary Archives._]
Kind, gentle steed, nobly standing,
Four shoes will I put on your feet,
Firm and good, that you'll be fleet,
That is Donar's hammer saying.
To the woods and homeward go,
Always on the straight road thro',
Far from what is bad, still fleeing,
That is Donar's hammer saying.
Should wounds and pain become distressing,
Blood to blood shall flow,
Bone to bone shall grow,
That is Donar's hammer saying.
Carry the rider, true little steed,
Onward to all good luck bringing;
Carry him thence and back with speed,
That is Donar's hammer saying.
--_Old Meresburger Song_.
The horse appeared comparatively late in the group of domestic
animals. In searching the monuments of the ancients, which have
furnished the foundation for our present culture, that is, of the
littoral inhabitants of the Mediterranean, and of the people of
Mesopotamia, we find in Egypt the first traces of the horse. But even
here it appears late, on the monuments of the first ruling patricians
of human origin.[2] Especially during the period of Memphis (I-X
Dynasty), then under the rules of Thebes (XI-XVI Dynasty), there is no
trace of the horse.
[Footnote 2: Until the time Menes, with whom historical times
begin, ruled in Egypt among visionary heroes or mythological
gods.]
It is first in the transition period, from the late rule of Thebes
(XVII-XX Dynasty) to the so-called period of Sut (XXI-XXX Dynasty)
that there appears, in the wall pictures of the Pharaohs' tombs,
representations of the horse. The oldest, now known, picture of the
horse is found on the walls of the tombs of Seti I. (1458-1507 B.C.)
under whose reign the Israelite wandered from Egypt. The horses of the
mortuary pictures are very well drawn, and have an unmistakable
oriental type. There has therefore undoubtedly existed in Egypt high
culture, for over 4,000 years, without representation of the horse,
which was the next animal domesticated after the cat.
From this time on we find the horse frequently represented both by the
vainglorious despots of Mesopotamia and on the so-called Etruscan
vases, which appeared after the influence of Greek art, when, on
almost every urn, horses in lively action and in various forms of
bodily development, almost always of an oriental type, are to be
recognized. But neither here, nor in Homer, nor in the many later
representations of the horse on the Roman triumphal arches, etc., are
to be found horses whose hoofs have any trace of protection. Records,
which describe to us the misfortunes of armies, whose horses had run
their feet sore, we find on the contrary at a very early time, as in
Diodorus, regarding the cavalry of Alexander the Great, in Xenophon,
regarding the retreat of the ten thousand, in Polybius, regarding the
cavalry of Hannibal in Etruria, etc. It is also known that the cavalry
of the linguist King of Pontus, Mithridates the Great, at times and
specially at the siege of Cyzicus were delayed, in order to let the
hoofs of the horses grow.
On the contrary it seems strange that of the Huns alone, whose
horsemen swept over whole continents from the Asiatic highlands like a
thunderstorm, such trouble had not become known either through the
numerous authors of the eastern and western Roman empire or from
Gallia.
Horseshoeing, very likely, was invented by different nations at about
the same period during the migration of the nations, and the various
kinds of new inventions were brought together in Germany only, after
each had acquired a national stamp according to climate and
usefulness.
In this way come from the south the thin, plate-like horseshoes, with
staved rim, covering the whole hoof; from the Mongolian tribes of
middle Asia the "Stolleneisen" (calk shoe); while to our northern
ancestors, and indeed the Normans, must be ascribed with great
probability the invention of the "Griffeneisen" (gripe shoe),
especially for the protection of the toes.
All varieties of the horseshoe of southern Europe are easily
distinguished from the Roman so-called "Kureisen" (cure shoe), of
which several have been unearthed at various excavations and are
preserved at the Romo-Germanic Museum in Mentz (Mainz), Germany. The
shoes, Figs. 1 and 2, each represent thin iron plates, covering the
whole hoof, which in some cases have an opening in the middle, of
several centimeters in diameter.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
These plates, apparently set forth to suit oriental and occidental
body conformation, are either directly provided with loops or have
around the outer margin a brim several centimeters high, in which
rings are fastened. Through the loops or rings small ropes were drawn,
and in this way the shoe was fastened to the crown of the hoof and to
the pastern. Sufficient securing of the toe was wanting in all these
shoes, and, on account of this, the movement of the animal with the
same must have been very clumsy, and we can see from this that the
ropes must have made the crown of the hoof and pastern sore in a short
time. One of these shoes[3] evidently was the object of improvement,
to prevent the animal from slipping as well as from friction, and we
therefore find on it three iron cubes 1½ centimeters high, which were
fastened corresponding to our toes and calks of to-day, and offer a
very early ready proof, from our climatic and mountainous conditions,
which later occur, principally in southern Germany, that this style of
horseshoeing was not caused by error, but by a well founded local and
national interest or want.
[Footnote 3: Not illustrated.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
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.]
Shoes of this kind, after the old Roman style, with a very strong rim
bent upward, likely proved very comfortable for the purpose of
protection, in the Sierras of the Pyrenean peninsula, where they seem
to have been in use for a long time; for in the twelfth century we
find in Spain the whole form of the Roman shoe, only fastened by nails
(Figs. 4 and 5). At first the shoe seems to have been cut off at the
heel end, but as apparently after being on for some time, bruises were
noticed, the shoe was made longer at the heel, and this part was
turned up so as to prevent them from becoming loose too soon, as both
the Spanish horseshoes of this period show, and the acquisition was
even later transferred to England (Fig. 7).
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
The shoe containing a groove (Fig. 6), which we shall see later, made
its appearance in Germany in the fifteenth century. From this time,
according to our present knowledge, ceases the period of the Roman
horseshoe. Its influence, however, lasted a great deal longer, and has
even remained until our present day.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
Its successor became partly the Arabo-Turkomanic and partly the
Southwest European horseshoe.
For the descendants of the Numidian light cavalry, the Roman and old
Spanish horseshoe was evidently too heavy for their sandy, roadless
deserts, so they made it thinner and omitted the bent-up rim, because
it prevented the quick movement of the horse. For the protection of
the nail heads the outer margin of the shoe was staved, so as to form
a small rim on the outer surface of the shoe, thus preventing the nail
heads from being worn and the shoe lost too soon.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
A horseshoe of that kind is shown by Fig. 8, which was used in North
Africa in the twelfth century, and became the model for all forms of
horseshoes of the Mahometan tribes. Even now quite similar shoes (Fig.
9) are made south and east from the Caspian Sea, at the Amu-Darja, in
Samarkand, etc., which were probably introduced under Tamerlane, the
conqueror of nearly the whole of Asia Minor in the fourteenth century.
The so-called "Sarmatische" (Sarmatian) horseshoe (Figs. 10 and 11),
of South Russia, shows in its form, at the same time, traces of the
last named shoe, however, greatly influenced by the Mongolian shoe,
the "Goldenen Horde," which at the turn of the sixteenth to the
seventeenth century played havoc at the Volga and the Aral. The
unusual width of the toe, and especially the lightness of the iron,
reminds us of the Turkomanic horseshoe, whereas, on the contrary, the
large bean-shaped holes, as well as the calks, were furnished through
Mongolian influence.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.]
The Sarmatian tribes were principally horsemen, and it is not
surprising, therefore, that the coat of arms of the former kingdom of
Poland in the second and third quadrate shows a silver rider in armor
on a silver running horse shod with golden shoes, and that at present
about 1,000 families in 25 lineages of the Polish Counts Jastrzembiec
Bolesezy, the so-called "Polnische Hufeisen Adel" (Polish Horseshoe
Nobility), at the same time also carried the horseshoe on their coats
of arms. The silver horseshoe in a blue field appears here as a symbol
of the "Herbestpfardes" (autumnal horse), to which, after the
christianization of Poland, was added the golden cross. The noblemen
participating in the murder of the holy Stanislaus in 1084 had to
carry the horseshoe reversed on their escutcheon.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
From the African and Turkomanic horseshoe, through the turning up of
the toes and heels, originated later the Turkish, Grecian and
Montenegrin horseshoe of the present as shown by Fig. 12.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
By the Moorish invasion in Spain, the Spanish-Gothic horseshoeing was
also modified, through which the shoe became smooth, staved at the
margin, very broad in the toe, and turned up at toe and heel, and at a
later period the old open Spanish national horseshoe (Fig. 13) was
developed. As we thus see, we can in no way deny the Arabian-Turkish
origin of this shoe.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.]
As France had received her whole culture from the south, and as the
crusades especially brought the Roman nation in close contact with
them for centuries, so it cannot appear strange that the old French
horseshoe, a form of which has been preserved by Bourgelat and is
represented by Fig. 14, still remained in the smooth, turned up in
front and behind, like the shoe of the southern climates, with Asiatic
traces, which hold on the ground, the same as all southern shoeing, by
the nail heads.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.]
The transit of the German empire, in order to keep up the historical
course, once more brings us back to the middle of the fifth century.
At this time Attila, the "Godegisel" (gods' scourge), left his wooden
capitol in the lowlands near the river Theis, to go to the Roman
empire and to the German and Gallican provinces, there to spread
indescribable misery to the horrors of judgment day.
The following is a prayer in those days of horror:
"Kleiner Huf, kleines Ross,
Krummer Sabel, spitz Geschoss--
Blitzesschnell und sattlefest:
Schrim uns Herr von Hunnenpest."
We are at present reminded of those times of fright, when during the
clearing and tilling of the soil, a small roughly made horseshoe is
found in Southern Germany, about as far as the water boundary of the
Thuringian forest, and occasionally on, but principally around
Augsburg, and in France as far as the Loire.
These shoes, covering the margin or wall of the foot, show slight
traces of having been beveled on the lower surface, and contain two
bent calks very superficially placed. Occasionally they are sharpened
and turned in two directions. The characteristic wide bean-shaped nail
holes are conical on the inside, and are frequently placed so near the
outer margin of the shoe that from the pressure the hoofs were likely
to split open. The nail heads were shaped like a sleigh runner, and
almost entirely sunk into the shoe. It evidently was not bent up at
the toe, like the old form of these kinds of shoes.
These shoes, according to our conception of to-day, were so carelessly
finished that in the scientific circles of historical researches they
were, until very recently, looked upon as saddle mountings or
something similar, and not as horseshoes.
This shoe was for some time, while it was plentifully found in France,
regarded as of Celtic make; but this is certainly not the case, as it
is of Hunish and Hungarian "nationalitat" (nationality). An exactly
scientific proof, it is true, according to our present knowledge,
cannot be furnished; however, it will stand well enough until the
error is proved.
This peculiar kind of horseshoe has been found in South Germany and
Northeast France, as far as the region of Orleans, where, as it has
been proved, the Huns appeared. This, therefore, speaks for their
descendants: 1st, the far extended and yet sharply limited places of
finding the shoe; 2d, the small size corresponds to the historically
proved smallness of the Hunish horse; 3d, the hasty and careless make,
which does not indicate that it was made by settled workmen; 4th, the
horseshoe (Fig. 15) bespeaks the Hunish workmanship of the present
Chinese shoe, which, in making of the nail holes, shows to-day related
touches of the productions of the Mongolian ancestors.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.]
Aside from the peculiar shaped nail holes, the characteristic of the
Hunish shoe consists in the changes of the calks for summer and winter
shoeing, as well as in the sinking of the nail heads. The Huns,
therefore, aside from the indistinctly marked attempts of the Romans
in this direction, which are the only ones known to me, must be
regarded as the inventors not only of the calks, but partly, next to
the Normans, also of the sharpened winter shoeing, and of the not
unimportant invention of sinking the nail heads observed in Fig. 15.
The Hunish shoeing was therefore an important invention for the
Germans. After centuries later, wherever horseshoeing was practiced,
it was done solely according to Hunish methods; whereby the shoe was
very possibly made heavier, was more carefully finished and in course
of time showed an attempt to bend the toe (Fig. 16a).
[Illustration: FIG. 16.]
[Illustration: FIG. 16A.]
In the Bomberg Dom we find an equestrian statue, not unknown in the
history of art, which was formerly held to be that of Emperor Conrad
III. At present however the opinion prevails generally that it
represents "Stephen I., den Heiligen" (Stephen I., the Saint).
Stephen I., the first king of Hungary, formerly was a heathen, and was
named "Najk." He reigned from 997 to 1038. His important events were
the many victorious wars led against rebellious chieftains of his
country, and he was canonized in 1087. His equestrian monument in
Bomberg Dom was, in consequence, hardly made before the year 1087.
Notwithstanding that the Huns had been defeated 500 years before on
the plains of Catalania, the horse of the above mentioned monument
carries, as I have convinced myself personally, Hunish horseshoes,
modified, however, by blade-shaped calks just then coming into use.
This is proof that, at least in Hungary, the Hunish method of shoeing
was preserved an extraordinary long time. By this it has not become
improbable that at least the many shoes of this kind which were found
on the Lechfield come, not directly from the Huns, but from their
successors, the Hungarians, whose invasions took place in the first
half of the tenth century.
About the same time of the Hungarian invasions, the Normans began to
disturb the southwestern part of Europe with their Viking expeditions.
Their sea kings seem to have been equestrians at very early times, and
to have had their horses shod, although perhaps only in winter; at
least the excavation of the Viking ship in 1881 disclosed the remains
of a horse which was shod. The shoeing consisted only of a toe
protection--"Brodder" (Bruder, Brother)--provided with a small sharp
calk, and fastened by two nails.
When later, in the year 1130, the Norwegian king Sigard Yorsalafar,
during his journey to Jerusalem, entered Constantinople, his horse is
said to have carried only the small toe-protecting shoes.
The art of horseshoeing, immediately after the migration of the
nations, came near our improvement of the same to-day; especially near
the reputed discoveries met with, which consist simply of iron
protection for the margin of the hoof, fastened by nails. The heads
were sunk into the shoe so as to increase its firmness. Special
consideration was given to local and climatic conditions through the
introduction of toes and heels.
The mechanism of the hoof also found remarkable consideration,
inasmuch as they apparently avoided driving nails too close to the
heel end of the shoe. Notwithstanding this early improvement in the
art of horseshoeing, the Huns (as stated before) took a prominent
part. It appears to have taken a long time after the migration of the
nations for shoeing to become general, as is shown by various
descriptions of tournaments, pictures of horses, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.]
We will mention in the first place the "Percival des Wolfram von
Eschenbach," as well as "Christ von Troies," where there is a great
deal said about horses, horse grooms, and tournaments, but nowhere in
those works is any mention made of horseshoeing. Likewise is found the
horse on the coat of arms of Wolfram von Eschenbach, in the Manessi
collection in Paris, which was begun in Switzerland in the fourteenth
century; but, although we find this horse most beautifully finished,
it was not shod.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.]
During the time of the crusades, 1096-1291, however, there appeared
suddenly in Germany a plate-like horseshoe of southern character
(Figs. 18 and 19), which was occasionally bent upward at the heel end,
and was very heavy. The toe was very broad sometimes, and was also
bent upward. In this form we have seen the shoes of the Balkan and
Pyrean peninsula. The shoe was remarkably narrow at the heel, and was
supplied with calks, which accounts for the highness of the back part
of the shoe. Frequently we find one calk set diagonally, but the other
drawn out wedge shaped, and sharp; so that there existed a great
similarity between this iron shank and that used by Count Einsiedel
for winter shoeing. Sometimes both shanks were sharpened in this way,
or were provided with blade-shaped calks well set forward. The form of
nail holes used was very characteristic of that of the Huns, but they
were decidedly smaller and square, as were seen in the African shoe of
the twelfth century. The nail heads were slightly sunk, which was
according to southern customs.
That this shoe really belongs to the period of the crusades is proved
by the numerous horse pictures which have been preserved from that
time; of which we will mention the manuscript of Heinrich von Veldecka
("Eneidt")[4] in the year 1180, which belongs to the most valuable
parts of German history of art.
[Footnote 4: "Wanderungen des Aeneas" (Travels of Aeneas).]
This south European Hunish horseshoe had remained the standard form
during the middle ages and until the thirty years war, at least in
South Germany. The shoe was continually improved, and reached its
highest point of perfection about the time of the "Bauern-krieg"
(Revolution of the Peasants), at a time when, under the leadership of
the Renaissance, the whole art of mechanics, and especially that of
blacksmithing, had taken an extraordinarily great stride (Figs. 20 and
21).
[Illustration: FIG. 20.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
The shoe (Figs. 22 and 23) is found in Franconia, in all places where,
in the sixteenth century, battles had been fought with the rebellious
peasants. We may, therefore, be justified in fixing its origin mainly
from that period, for which also speaks its high perfection of form.
We find here still the bent-up heel and toe (the latter broad and
thin) of the south European form.
The staved rim of the Spanish Arabic Turkomanic shoe is observed to be
undergoing a change to that of a groove. The broad surface of the shoe
evidently led to the beveling of the same, so as to lessen sole
pressure. The size of the nail holes remains still like that of the
Huns; but the unsunk southern nail heads yet serve to improve the hold
on the ground. The calks were next placed forward, perhaps from an
uncultivated sense of beauty, or from the high bending up of the hind
part of the shoe, which would necessitate a high and heavy unsightly
calk.
From this time on horseshoeing in south Germany fell back very
quickly, and loses all scientific holds of support after the thirty
years war. In the mean time toe protection in the form of a calk had
spread from the colder north over southern Germany; whereas this north
German invention did not find favor in England in consequence of her
mild oceanic climate.
[Illustration: FIG. 22]
Also, the calks in England, as well as in the southern countries, on
the same ground, therefore, with good reason, could at no time be
adopted. This did, however, not interfere with the use of the calk in
the colder south Germany, where after a use of nearly 1,500 years it
has maintained its local and climatic adaptation. Notwithstanding the
occasional aping by foreigners, it has remained victorious in its
original form, and has been chosen in many countries.
The historical development of the horseshoe in general, from about the
time of Emperor Maximilian until the seven years war, furnishes a true
picture of the confused condition of things at that period of time,
which, to make intelligible, would require a separate and complete
treatise. Interesting as it is to the scientist to follow up this
development and mode of present German horseshoeing, which, aside from
the national toe and calk, is the English form and has become
influential, and with full right, for a periodical of this kind
further, more comprehensive, statement would under all circumstances
take up too much room; therefore I must drop the pen, although
reluctantly.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.]
* * * * *