Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/76

 ferrant, and the other has been intended to remove the horn and incise it in cases of disease (fig. 2). fig. 2

These are the only relics of Roman farriery I have been able to trace; and their having been found fig. 2 at the capital of that empire, would show that the hoofs required paring and dressing, and that this was of frequent occurrence, since the mulomedicus was bound to be satisfied with a fixed price for performing that duty. Vegetius recommends the employment of such instruments.

Apsyrtus (A.D. 330-340), a Greek of the Byzantine empire, and one of the most renowned veterinarians of this period, who was employed in the army of Constantine the Great, says that those horses which have a small frog are swift of foot and valuable; and those which have their frogs growing close and small were best for work. Leading us to infer that those horses which had wide flat soles and prominent frogs, being unshod were liable to become lame from bruises to these parts.

Palladius Rutilius Taurus Æmilianus (A.D. 300—400) advises that strong oaken planks be laid down as a flooring for stables, and that straw be laid over them at night