Klemm[1] remarks: 'The horse must have been equally valuable to the war-loving German as the intelligent and trusty hound was to the huntsman. The German horsemen were respected by the Romans. They displayed great affection for their steeds and had them under excellent control, although Tacitus does not praise the horses for either their beauty or speed. The Germans had saddles and horse-shoes; the latter are often found in the soil of the fatherland. They indicate a small race of horses then in existence. The horse-bones dug up by Dr Wagner were also small.'
Arnkiel,[2] speaking of the supposed horse-shoe found in Childeric's grave, notices that the most ancient shoes discovered 'are small and thin, very much oxydized, and have neither toe-pieces (griff) nor toe-clips, but small calkins at the heel, and the nail-holes are near the centre of the shoe.'
Ludwig Lindenschmidt,[3] who has so ably, and almost exhaustively, explored the ancient grave-mounds of Sigmaringen and its vicinity, is puzzled at the presence of single horse-shoes in graves, without the bones of horses, spurs, or equipment. 'They form one of the unsolved mysteries of the graves, and are in no way accounted for
- ↑ Handbuch der Germanischen Alterthumskunde, p. 133. Dresden, 1836.
- ↑ Cimb. Heidenrel. p. 164.
I much regret that I have been unable to refer to a paper by S. D. Schmidt on what were called Swedish horse-shoes: 'Ueber Sogenannte Schwedenhufeisen, mit Nachtr. v. Prof. Renner,' in Jena Variscia, ill. 61. - ↑ Die Vaterländischeu Alterthümer der Fiirstlich Hohenzoller'schen Sammlungen zu Sigmaringen. Mainz, 1860.
