Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/118

 a step in advance of the sandal. In the valley of the Upper Oxus, towards Budukshan, the people shoe their horses with stag-horn. ‘I heard of a singular practice,’ says Burnes, ‘among the people of these districts, who shoe their horses with the antlers of the mountain deer. They form the horn into a suitable shape, fix it on the hoof with horn pins, and never renew it till fairly worn out. It is said the custom is borrowed from the Kirghizzes.’

Speaking of the Kirghiz, Wood writes: ‘What flesh they consume is obtained by their matchlocks; and the number of horns that strew Pamir bear evidence to the havoc they make among the wild flocks of the mountain. These horns being of a remarkably large size, supply shoes for the horses' feet, and are also a good substitute for stirrup-irons. The shoes are nothing more than a semicircular piece of horn placed on the fore part of the hoof. When the horse is in constant work, it requires renewal at least once a week.’