is more available this is used instead; where neither can be procured the stable is known far and wide as a bad one.
Xenophon, who wrote the most complete work on horsemanship of his day, makes no mention of horseshoes; while, on the other hand, he is particularly explicit as to the means to be taken to harden and toughen horses’ hoofs. He recommends specially for this purpose bare stone pavement, which, he says, ‘will cool, harden, and improve a horse’s feet merely by his standing upon it, while the same benefit will result to his hoofs as if he were made to travel on stony roads every day.’
Another writer, Vegetius, says: ‘The floor of the stable should not be made of soft wood, but of solid hard oak, which will make the horse’s feet as hard as rock.’
The untutored natives of the interior of the American countries in question, without having heard of either of these authorities or their writings, have found out for themselves that both of these floorings act in precisely the manner described; whilst we, acknowledging that it should be hard, have nailed the standing place of a horse on to his feet, and have made him carry it about with him. The theory was ingenious, but it was wanting in logic; and the practice is found to be expensive and unsatisfactory from the outset all through.
Osmer, writing more than a century ago, says: ‘In many parts of the world to this day, even on the most rocky ground, horses are accustomed to carry
