horses and fight on foot, and train their horses to stand still in the very spot on which they leave them, to which they retreat with great activity when there is occasion; nor, according to their practice, is anything regarded as more unseemly or more unmanly than to use housings. Accordingly, they have the courage, though they be themselves but few, to advance against any number whatever of horse mounted with housings.'[1]
In the last century, shoes were dug out of graves, which were to all appearance pre-Roman. One of these shoes has been described as having the catches or calkins projecting in a peculiar manner upwards instead of downwards, as if to grasp the hoof; but it is not stated whether there were also nail-holes.[2]
Many years ago, veterinary surgeon Plank[3] mentioned finding shoes in Bavaria, which, from their antique form and the situation they occupied when discovered, he believed to have been worn by Roman cavalry horses. Schaum also speaks of ancient shoes as being found in his district.[4] At Willerode (Mansfelder Gebirgskreise), Rosenkranz[5] speaks of a variety of old iron work being found in grubbing up a forest called Wolfshagen. This consisted of rusty spikes, unusually large horse-shoes (ungewöhnlich grosse Hufeisen), a battle-axe, and a kind of sharp knife, made of flint, which he thought might be a sacrificial knife.
