Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/359

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ANALOGY BETWEEN HORSE AND WHEEL SANDALS.
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are intended to give greater security to the lodgment of the wheel, though, for that matter, with a smaller wheel, one central clip on each side, as in the first-class sandal, would suffice, especially if the sole diminished in width, as it does in that, towards the hook, which would wedge the wheel in more tightly. The longitudinal aperture at the upper end of each of the posterior clips is intended for the admission of a leather strap, which, passing across the wheel as it lies in the skid, prevents its jumping out when traversing broken ground. The hooks on each side of the first and second class sandals reveal a similar intention, and the union of the lateral clips in the third class may be also attributed to an attempt at simplicity in this direction. The analogy between the Roman sandal found at Dalheim (fig. 114) and this modern specimen is very marked; so much so, indeed, that their being intended for the same purpose can scarcely be doubted; one thing is certain, that no horse could journey a yard with the Military-Train specimen; and we have yet to learn that the horses of Gaul, Germany, or Britain, during the Roman period, could travel in any other fashion than the horses of our own days. I have tried the two articles found at Springhead on several horses, but out of the number of many-sized hoofs experimented on, I could not find one to fit either of the hippo-sandals. The resemblance of the larger specimen to a skid struck several casual observers, who were not at all aware of their history or the functions imputed to them. Among others, I may mention Col. Tilley, of the Royal Engineers, who exclaimed, the first glance he got of it in my hand, 'Hilloa! what have you got there? An old skid?'