The Vanished Riders
| “THE work must be so shaped that it is not only right in construction, but beautiful in design. When and where horses were first shod we do not know, but we do know that horseshoes were first made of iron 481 A. D. The primitive shoes were made of some soft material, like leather. Later soft metals were used. Some ostentatious ruler would, on certain occasions, have his horse shod with silver, and in some instances even gold was used. The horseshoe has ever been regarded as a charm. This superstition is shared by all nations and not least by the American people. Horseshoeing is a necessary evil an unavoidable consequence of the domestication of the horse. We all concur in the aphorism, ‘no foot, no horse.’ . . . Shoeing kicking horses is both dangerous and hard labor.” |
–SCIENTIFIC HORSE, MULE & OX SHOEING.
Other pages in this section
