Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/330

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HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING.

quently the three models are collected on the same site, and at the same depth, and with them have also been found the usual Gallo- or Romano-Celtic horse-shoes. Antiquarians have been greatly puzzled how to designate them; for some time they were stands or supports for lamps; afterwards they were stirrups; and then they figure as temporary shoes or sandals for horses with diseased or hoof-worn feet; as slippers that the Romans have strapped on their horses' limbs at night after long journeys; and as real defences for ordinary work—a step in advance of the sock with its metal sole; and lastly, as busandals, or bullock-slippers.

As the subject is one of more than ordinary interest, on account of the various hypotheses raised, and from the fact that these articles are now becoming somewhat common in museums, where they are duly labelled 'Hipposandals,' we will glance at the description and probable uses of some of them at least.

Dalheim affords a good instance of a locality in which all three forms have been discovered, accompanied by Roman remains of every description, as well as the ordinary nailed horse-shoe. In the first report from Professor Namur,[1] amongst other relics, he mentions having dug up several ordinary horse-shoes, and beside them were five pathological shoes. The latter are described as having their base oval, with a hole in the middle, and on each side towards the front a clip 2¾ inches high, ending in a hook-like process. Behind was a prolongation, also terminating in a hook. These strange articles were sub-

  1. Public, de la Soc. pour le Recher. des Monumens Luxembourg, vol. vii.