Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/213

Rh 15th century, are characterized in those (figs. 45,46,47), from the Château of Sogron (8th to 15th century); and also those of Asuel and Vorbourg (figs. 48, 49), One of them is peculiar in having a very primitive toe-clip {pinçon), formed by the toe of the shoe being a little elongated and bent upwards (fig. 49); and another has the calkins inverted, or turning towards the heel of the foot (fig. 46). The specimen from Vorbourg (fig. 49) closely resembles that from Souboz (fig. 50); and yet the latter was found at such a great depth in a quarry, that the workmen believed the rock must have grown since it was deposited. But there can be little doubt that it was lost in the pasture on this part of the mountain traversed by a Roman road, and at a very remote date had slipped through a crevice in the rock. 'It has already been remarked that in the ruins of various castles, as elsewhere, shoes have been gathered like those of early times, but we have emitted doubts as to their employment at a later period. The shoe from the Château of Asuel weighs 425 grammes, and it has six nail-holes like those of the 12th century, mentioned in the Roman da Renard (edit. Willems, p. 241), when the cunning fox engaged the wolf Isangrin to read, under the feet of a mare, on what conditions she would surrender the flesh of her foal! This description of shoe, stronger in metal and of similar dimensions, appears to characterize the horses of the middle ages, which had to carry heavy caparisons of iron and riders covered with weighty armour. They sometimes offer an important indication, consisting in the mark of the farrier who forged them. This is very distinctly seen on the shoe from Asuel, and on those of Vorbourg and Sogron. That from Asuel reminds us of