reatise on the care
of horses, advises that they be reared on stony ground, he having
observed that, in a natural way, the hoof becomes somewhat adapted
to the necessities of its conditions. The Romans found the
difficulty from the tender foot of the horse yet more serious on
their paved roads; but both these classic people showed, in their
ways of dealing with the difficulty, that lack of inventive skill
which so curiously separates the olden from the modern men. They
devised soles of leather and bags as coverings for the horse's feet,
but none of the contrivances could have been very serviceable. All
such coverings must have been quickly worn out in active use.

So far as we can determine, it was not until about the fourth century
of our era that the iron horseshoe was invented. This valuable
contrivance appears to have originated in Greek or Roman lands,
probably in the former realm, for it first bore the name of "selene,"
from its likeness to the crescent shape of the new moon. Although
simple, the horseshoe was a most important invention, for it
completely reconciled the animal to the conditions of our higher
civilization by removing the one hinderance to its general use in the
work of war and commerce. It is probable that with this invention
began the great task of differentiating the several breeds of
European horses for their use in various employments, as draught
animals for packing purposes, as light saddle horses, and the
bearing of armored men. Neither the draught nor the war horses of
Europe could well have been specialized until their heavy bodies were
separated from the ground by these metallic coverings of the hoof.

[Illustration: Syrian Horse]

Much has depended on the specialization of the horse into different
breeds, made possible by the iron shoe. By reconciling the creature to
uses--agriculture, which depends on draught animals, and the commerce
of importance, which can only be effected by means of wagons--the
rapid economic development of our civilization was made possible. By
developing a horse capable of bearing an armored man, Europe was
brought into a condition in which organized armies took the place of
mere forays, and so the development of centralized states was
promoted. In the warfare between the Mohammedans and the Christian
states of Europe, in the campaigns with the Turks and the Saracens,
it is easy to see that the powerful breeds of horses reared in western
and northern Europe we