Horse shoes and horse shoeing: their origin, history, uses, and abuses/Chapter XIV
CHAPTER XIV.
Thus far, then, have we endeavoured to trace the history of horse-shoes and horse-shoeing. We have seen that there is not sufficient evidence to testify that the Greeks and some other ancient races whom we may designate 'horse-loving,' employed an iron defence nailed to the feet of their solipeds; that, though the Romans of a comparatively later age must have, to some extent, been aware of, and perhaps practised, this art, yet their writers do not mention it; and, from the testimonies before us, we might almost be inclined to conclude that the Romans only resorted to it in those countries which they had invaded or conquered, and where they already found it in use; that shoeing with iron plates and nails was known to some, at any rate, of the Celtic and Germanic tribes settled in the West probably long before our era; and that from these people the art, more or less modified, and perhaps improved, has descended to our own days, a thousand-fold more necessary to us than it was to them. It is quite possible, and even extremely probable, that for a long period shoeing was but rarely resorted to by the people who were aware of its utility; and if, as is surmised, the art was kept a secret by the Druid priests, this may account for the Romans being unacquainted with its application for some time after their having been in contact with the so-styled barbarous nations of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. Before this device was adopted, horses must have been almost exclusively employed to carry riders, who were nearly always warriors; or to drag those light tiny chariots said to be the invention of Erichthonius, the Athenian, or their modifications—the currus arcuate, the lectica, the carpentum, and the carrucæ, which, drawn by one or more horses, were seldom used except in the Grecian or Roman games. In the heroic ages, indeed, they appear to have been almost solely employed for the speedy conveyance of warriors on the march or into action, that they might be vigorous for the fight, and attack where most suitable. When these war-chariots appear with three horses, one of that number was often a spare steed to replace either of the other two that might be disabled from wounds, or perhaps have its feet worn to the quick. For long journeys, mules were preferred either for riding or draught purposes, because of the natural thickness and resistance of their hoofs; so that it may not have been a matter of fashion, but necessity, which compelled the Roman emperors and the Roman ladies to go about in equipages drawn by mules— a circumstance which raised the price of these animals considerably above that of horses.[1] But even the employment of mules was limited, because of the damage done to their feet on roads which were generally so badly made, if made at all, that travelling on them was only possible for short distances. It was, doubtless, in a great measure to obviate these inconveniences that the Romans constructed their wonderful strata. On such paved roads, cavalry or horses drawing light vehicles would probably travel a number of days without shoes; and it may be that heavy loads in carriages were transported on them for some distance by long teams of mules, as observed by Martial, in the beginning of our era: 'Longæ mulorum mandras.'
Beyond these roads, however, quadrupeds were scarcely available for drawing heavy weights; and human strength, together with the ingenuity of the Roman engineers, was enlisted to convey, by means of rollers, levers, and various other appliances, the materials destined for building or other purposes. Even in Rome, and in many other cities built before shoeing had become general, the main thoroughfares were too narrow to permit carriages laden with bulky articles to pass. The object of this was probably to make them shady, and protect them from the sweeping winter winds, as well as to impede an enemy should he attempt to enter. All transport, therefore, must have been accomplished at an immense sacrifice of manual labour, which to us now would appear appalling. In the north of China, where horses are numerous, and their feet shod, carriages are largely employed, and the streets of the towns are wide—Peking, for example. In the south, however, where horses are extremely scarce and water-carriage convenient, as at Canton, the streets are very narrow and unfit for the passage of wheeled vehicles, and all the land transport has to be performed by men.
With the introduction of shoeing, a gradual revolution in the social economy of nations, especially those of a commercial tendency, commenced, and benefits began to be derived equivalent to the employment of a powerful moving machine, capable of being utilized as never machine was before. The many important uses for which the horse was adapted duly developed themselves; long distances could be quickly travelled, day after day, without injury to those hitherto vulnerable organs, the feet; and roads, slowly and expensively made, often wrung out of the enforced labour of slaves, were not now required to save the hoofs of horses. Heavy loads could be transported almost continuously by the same team at an accelerated pace, without demanding the tedious intervention of the levers and rollers of not long before; the horse's powers were also increased by this simple means to a degree that nothing else ever devised could have done; while its strength was husbanded, and the painfulness of its oftentimes onerous duties was perhaps rendered less acute.
Land-traffic, where shoeing is not resorted to, and where few other animals besides the horse or mule are employed, is generally at a low ebb, because everything must be carried on their backs; and as, without some covering for the feet, the weight each can carry is but small, the price of merchandise must be proportionally high, while the risks incurred are greater. If it be true that commerce is increased in proportion as means are afforded for facilitating communication between different parts of the same country, or between kingdoms, then it must be as true that nail-shoeing has conferred a benefit on mankind of no mean character. For whenever it had been ascertained that carriages could be constantly made serviceable in conveying merchandise for long distances by horse-power, and without inflicting any injury on the horses, then commercial relations became vastly extended: roads of every construction, not so much required to preserve the hoofs as to aid the wheels, began to be thrown open everywhere, and the arts and manufactures received a potent stimulus, and one quite as beneficial, if we consider the age, as railways and steam-ships have conferred in modern days.
Since the realization of the increased power which shoeing conferred on the horse species, a wonderful result appears in the increase of varieties or breeds to meet the many requirements sought for in horses for draught or riding.
The horse, in the earlier periods of its domestication, and in nearly every country, may be supposed to have had a tolerable uniformity of proportion adapted to the purposes for which it was trained—-those of carrying lightly equipped troops, and drawing small chariots containing few people. The enterprise of Western nations, however, and the skill they have for so many centuries shown in modifying or adapting the natural capabilities of the domestic animals for various purposes, led to a gradual increase of size in the horse, in order to, procure the greatest results compatible with convenience, and to save trouble and expense by reducing the number needed to draw a heavy load by at least one-half or one-third. That this result has been achieved, I need only point to the size and weight of the London dray-horse—or perhaps, better still, to the massive elephantine proportions of the Manchester or Liverpool waggon-horse, and the enormous power it can exert in moving and transporting loads which would have required two, three, or even four horses of the middle ages to stir. And this transformation could not have been brought about had the art of shoeing been unknown. The hoofs of these mammoth creatures, thick and large though they be, are not nearly strong enough to support their ponderous weight for very long, even when not in draught. But when their great strength is put forth in propelling some five or six tons in one of our streets, and halting and backing repeatedly with this load, it is easy to see that the unshod hoofs must quickly succumb to the strain imposed upon them, and the excessively developed animal would be then only a helpless mass of bone and muscle, and as useless as a railway engine off the rails, or with its wheels broken. Some idea of the great weight and attrition imposed upon the extremities of a horse of this description may be inferred from the fact, that shoes weighing from four to six pounds each are sometimes quite worn out within a month.
Intermediate between these tardy giants of busy cities, whose utility, nay, even existence, depends upon shoeing, and the original small-sized horse, the breeders display other triumphs of their skill in rearing animals, useful not only because of their strength, but also for speed in various degrees, combined with endurance when in draught; and to these shoeing is almost as essential as to the larger class, for without it, in a very brief space, they would also be inefficient. Examples might be cited ad infinitum, all tending to exhibit the many boons this modest handicraft has conferred on modern civilization, in enlarging the trade relations between different countries, forming, as it does, one of the chief instruments in maintaining the integrity of animal power, whether used in agriculture and commerce, or in aiding the arts and sciences to be developed. Had it not been introduced at an early age, as a matter of necessity, it must have been invented at a later period; for we can scarcely imagine a state of affairs in which our favourite and invaluable servants and companions would be so helpless after a few days' riding or driving, as to require rest or temporary slippers, until the over-worn hoofs had regained their strength.
We have seen that ancient history often speaks of the serious mishaps befalling armies when on service, through the want of some protection to the hoofs of their cavalry, lightly armed and equipped as it was; and it likewise tells us of the care bestowed on these organs, so as to keep them in the best condition to withstand wear. I have ventured to hint, that it was probably owing to their being able to shoe the great masses of cavalry composing their irresistible armies, that the barbarian races surrounding Rome were able to sweep down so rapidly and overwhelm her.
It is worthy of notice how very quickly after the value of shoeing had become generally known, the art of war became altered, not only as regards the increased mobility of armed bodies of men, and the certain efficiency of cavalry, but as concerning tactics and equipment. Always of the greatest moment, it was only when about to commence a campaign, or when really engaged in it, that the generals of antiquity devoted so much of their attention to the preservation of their horses' hoofs; and when these began to give way, defeat was often not very far distant. Consequently, the movements of large armies were generally constrained as to rapidity, and the horsemen were armed and equipped as lightly as possible, to diminish the chances of embarrassment from this source. It may have been from their ignorance of shoeing, that the Greeks considered cavalry rather as auxiliaries than as principals in battle,[2] and that it was not employed in the Trojan war. To this circumstance, also, may we not account for the warriors in the time of Homer having two horses each, upon which they rode alternately, in order to relieve the hoofs as much as possible?[3] Alexander the Great, undoubtedly, had a large force of men who fought both on horseback and on foot (διμαχαι),[4] but Diodorus mentions how these were rendered useless, by their horses becoming hoof-worn when on service.
In the early ages, armour had its origin in the cunning or effeminacy of Asiatic nations; but the more open and dauntless European despised every device except the shield, until brought into contact with the mail-covered enemy, when he also was obliged to adopt this protection. In the time of Constantine the Great, the horses of the Cataphracti, or heavy-armed cavalry, were covered with defensive materials, consisting either of scale-armour, or of plates of metal which had different names, according to the parts of the body they protected. This corps of cavalry was only formed in the later days of the Roman empire, when the discipline of the legions had been destroyed, and the chief dependence began to be placed upon horsemen. The Roman cavalry before this time had worn metal breastplates, or loricæ. This weighty armour, while it defended the warrior and his steed, necessarily impeded cavalry manœuvres, and increased the tendency to foot-lameness in the horses from want of shoeing. It is about this period that we find extemporaneous devices to protect the hoofs most frequently mentioned. The cumbrous protection, however, appears to have been soon given up; for we find Vegetius wondering by what fatality it happened, that the Romans, after having used heavy armour so late as the time of the Emperor Gratian (A.D. 376), should, by laying aside their breastplates and helmets, put themselves on a level with the barbarians, who were now commencing to sap the foundations of the empire. May not the reason for the apparent disregard of armour, which causes this writer to wonder, be found in the circumstance, that the great weight imposed upon the unshod hoofs, together with the rapidity of movement necessary to enable them to contend with such agile and unencumbered foes, rendered it imperative that this extra load should be dispensed with, in order to spare their horses as much as possible, and to follow or attack on more equal terms those whom we have assumed to possess the advantages afforded by nail-shoeing—advantages hitherto overlooked, or but partially resorted to, by the Romans?
From this time until the general adoption of iron shoes, we are led to infer that horsemen were as lightly clad and armed as was compatible with the services sought from them. But after the downfall of the Roman empire, and when the horse had by this hoof-defence been converted into a more perfect animal—when it could, without prejudice, be put to the most varied uses on all kinds of ground, and in all seasons, with but a small amount of care, so far as its feet were concerned, a new era was inaugurated in the art of war, from which we may date modern improvements. For it was about the time when, as we have seen, the fashion of protecting the lower surface of the horse's foot by a rim of iron, became general, that the benefits of the feudal system introduced by the people who shod their horses, began to be experienced, and a perceptible change in tactics and equipment became noticeable.
From this system sprang the age of chivalry, when the feudal knight and the feudal tenant, heavily armed and heavily caparisoned, horse and rider closely covered with invulnerable masses of iron, and bearing clumsy weapons, sallied out to the battle-field or the tournament, or travelled great distances to the rendezvous of their superiors, there to be trained or prepared for the contests which, unhappily, were of too frequent occurrence.
Riding double was unknown to the Romans. 'Do you think that two can sit upon one horse?' asks Martial. Suetonius even describes messages being conveyed in haste by men on two horses, each horse being relieved by the rider vaulting on the other. But in the middle ages, two riding upon one horse was not unusual. Servants frequently rode behind their masters; knights took up the wounded; and altogether two persons on horseback appears to have become a common practice. In the 'Tactica' of the Emperor Leo, who first speaks of nailed shoes, we read of horsemen named deputati, who were appointed to carry off the wounded behind them, and for this object they had an additional stirrup hanging to the end of the saddle.
So it is, that unless horses had hoofs of a more endurable quality than they now possess, it is quite impossible they could have sustained, for many hours even, the great additional strain imposed on them, not only by the ponderous iron-shell enveloping horse and rider, but by the peculiar nature of the warfare which was introduced, and in which collisions with heavy lances had to be borne in great part by the supporting or propelling feet of the horses engaged. Shoeing was then an art of the first importance, for without it these iron-clad men and horses could never have been serviceable in war. Cuirasses and helmets would not have been so generally adopted, neither would they have become an important feature in military law; and in all probability the noble and glorious institution of knighthood would have been unknown, or would have decayed soon after its establishment, and history would have been deprived of some of its most brilliant chapters. To the art, therefore, to which they owed so much, kings and knights did not disdain to offer homage by acquiring its rudiments, and learning with their own hands to fashion and affix the garniture which made their highly-prized chargers proof against the wear of the roads; for, burthened as they were, and workmen being so scarce, a short time only was necessary to render unarmed hoofs quite unserviceable.
In later times, though the practice of the art has been confined solely to special workmen, and few above these care about, or are acquainted with its most trifling details, yet in armies the organization of the farriers' department is considered, and justly, as of much importance; for without shoes on the horses' feet, a modern army would be reduced to a most helpless state of inefficiency, and provided there was no other means of transport or defence, would be on the verge of disaster. Indeed, without this protection to the hoofs of troop, artillery, and waggon-horses, no expedition could be undertaken.
In consequence of the care always manifested in this respect, examples of loss occasioned by its neglect are few. The Russian campaign of 1812, however, furnishes an instance of the need there is for providing armies not only with shoes to protect the hoofs, but appliances which will make them independent of the seasons in northern climates. I give the notice of this example from Thiers:[5] 'Napoleon left Doroboug on the 6th of November. The whole of the army followed on the 7th and 8th. The cold had become more perceptible, and once more gave rise to painful regrets at having forgotten to provide winter clothing; and another neglect yet more baffling—that of procuring frost-nails for the shoes of the horses. The season in which the army had left, and the belief that it would have been able to return before the setting-in of unfavourable weather, explains this double omission. Our unfortunate soldiers marched along, wrapped up in every kind of clothing saved from the flames at Moscow, without being able to guard themselves against a temperature of 9° or 10° (Reaumur); and at each ascending portion of the road, the artillery horses, even when the usual number required was doubled and trebled, were unable to drag the guns of the smallest calibre. Flogged until they were covered with blood, and their knees torn with frequent falling, they were found incapable of overcoming ordinary obstacles, through loss of strength and want of means to prevent their slipping on the ice. The ammunition waggons were abandoned, and scarcely any ammunition was saved. Soon after, the guns had to be surrendered as trophies to the Russians, but not without pain and shame to our brave artillery. The carriages were thus greatly diminished in number, and every day saw the losses augmented, and the horses expiring on the road.'
Another example—the most striking, perhaps, because the most recent—is to be found in the Times' Correspondent's[6] account of the Danish retreat from Schleswig to Sonderburg, on the night of the 5th February, 1865. Immediately after it had been determined that the Danes should effect a hurried retrograde movement, bad weather set in with great violence. 'The snow thickened and hardened on the ground, the road became smooth and bright as glass; horses and men slipped dreadfully, and fell at almost every step. Not one horse in the whole Danish army was rough-shod that night; on the contrary, the shoes both of saddle and draught horses were worn smooth by the last five or six days' incessant march on muddy ground, and the progress of the army met with terrible hindrance at the outset. . . . . It was not long before our march began to exhibit, on a small scale, some of the horrors of the famous retreat of the French from Moscow. The night was dark—the cold terrible; the thermometer, I dare say, did not mark more than four or five degrees below the freezing-point—but the chill in our veins told a very different tale, and the slipperiness of the road was perfectly awful. The snow, which was falling thick and fast at frequent intervals, lay in the fields three or four inches deep, and fringed the trees in the forests with the most picturesque fretwork; but it was trodden to the thinnest layer by all the feet, hoofs, and wheels of a whole host, till it glistened like ice in the occasional gleam of some pale star, as one or two peeped out in the sky through the gaps opened in the mass of clouds by the fitful blast. Dragoons, artillery-men—all who travel on saddle—were dismounted; even led horses were put to the direst exertions to keep their footing; draught-horses had to be held up—and cannon, caissons, and ammunition or luggage waggons to be dragged by the sheer strength of men, whose tread was no steadier. The falling of men and of beasts, the cracking of wheels and axletrees, was prodigious. It took us full nine hours to go over the first Danish mile and a half (less than seven English miles) of ground. Morning broke upon us long before we were half way between Schleswig and Fensburg, and we reached the latter place about four o'clock, p.m., on Saturday, having accomplished the whole distance of twenty-two English miles in eighteen hours. . . . . We had not gone half-a-mile from Schleswig before we found a very heavy piece of siege artillery forsaken on the road. The eight horses which dragged it had become, owing to the state of the roads, as powerless as so many new-littered kittens, and all the efforts of the men to share the work with them were unavailing. In the same manner, as we advanced on our dismal march, we, who were in the rear, came up with broken carriages, dismounted caissons, and horses fallen never to rise. The obstruction to our progress was indescribable.'
These examples will, perhaps, be sufficient to illustrate the influence this art has in maintaining the efficiency of armies, and what grave calamities may ensue when, for lack of foresight, or through carelessness, its most essential details are neglected, and the chief part of an expedition is left helpless at the most trying emergencies. For what, asks M. Bouley, can be more discouraging or painful to an army in retreat, than to leave behind its weak, sick, and wounded men, and its guns, ammunition, baggage, and provisions, to be destroyed by the weather, or to fall into the hands of perhaps a merciless enemy, when some simple device, suitable to the occasion, would have saved all?
It is fortunate that, in modern times, instances of public inconvenience occasioned by want of shoeing are remarkably rare in the annals of civil life, for it does not require much to prove how greatly the every-day routine of commerce is dependent upon horses, and therefore upon horse-shoes. Only think for a moment that if all the horses in our large cities—such as London, Manchester, or Liverpool—were deprived of their hoof-armature, in two or three days at most they would, if worked, be all footsore; and then attempt to realize the stagnation that would take place in the movement and business of these thronging marts! A feeble illustration is afforded in what took place in Paris in 1830, when, after the revolution, coalitions of trades commenced, and, with others, when the farriers struck for more wages. As a consequence, all the shoeing-forges in Paris were closed at the same time, and remained so for about six weeks. During this period, according to the statement of M. Bouley, it was curious to note the changes that took place in the various branches of trade or pleasure-making which depended on the services of horses. Of course, at first the farriers' contumacy did not produce any very marked results, because for some days the shoes then on the hoofs sufficed to preserve them from injury. But as these became worn out day after day, and as there were no means of renewing them, the number of animals unfit for work and kept in their stables gradually became more and more numerous, until in from three to four weeks, an almost complete cessation of horse-labour had taken place. At this period, the absence of horses and carriages from the streets, and the unusual stillness reigning throughout, seemed quite perplexing, and the city looked desolate. Trade had suffered very seriously; and the public service, as well as the necessary communication between the capital and the other cities and towns of France, was sadly deranged; for as at that time railways had not been introduced, all inland conveyance of letters, despatches, passengers, and merchandise, was intrusted to the malles-poste, the diligences, and other conveyances, and as these could not be horsed, business and travelling were in abeyance.
An amicable arrangement was come to at this crisis, however, and the inconvenient state of affairs brought to a close, but not before the utility of the art, and its direct influence on the welfare of modern civilization, had been amply demonstrated. Without it, even at the present time, when railways, telegraphs, and steam-ships have usurped a large share of the work formerly performed by couriers, coaches, waggons, and canal-boats drawn by horses, there would be an amount of inconvenience which it would severely task modern ingenuity to overcome. The most useful servant ever possessed by man would be nothing else than a powerful living machine, whose forces could not be perfectly developed or satisfactorily utilized. The withdrawal of our hackney coaches from their accustomed duties is inconvenient enough, but this is a comparatively small matter when compared to the entire cessation of all horse-labour in our cities.