Editing Horseshoe (section)

==History==
[[File:Hipposandal-ermont.jpg|thumb|A [[hipposandal]], a predecessor to the horseshoe]]
Since the early history of [[domestication of the horse]], [[working animal]]s were found to be exposed to many conditions that created breakage or excessive hoof wear. Ancient people recognized the need for the walls (and sometimes the sole) of domestic horses' hooves to have additional protection over and above any natural hardness. An early form of hoof protection was seen in ancient Asia, where horses' hooves were wrapped in rawhide, leather, or other materials for both therapeutic purposes and protection from wear.<ref name=Cohen>{{Cite web|url=http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/hoof_care/eqhorsesho610/ | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306031347/http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/hoof_care/eqhorsesho610/ |archive-date=6 March 2012 |last=Cohen |first=Rachel |title=The History of Horseshoes |publisher=Equisearch.com |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> From archaeological finds in [[Great Britain]], the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] appeared to have attempted to protect their horses' feet with a strap-on, solid-bottomed "[[hipposandal]]" that has a slight resemblance to the modern [[hoof boot]].<ref>{{cite web  | title = Iron hipposandal | website = Google Arts & Culture |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/iron-hipposandal/zQEOymgPuckeKA  | access-date = 20 July 2017 }}</ref>

[[File:Horseshoes from C11.jpg|thumb|right|English horseshoes from the 11th to the 19th centuries]]
[[File:Horseshoemaker.jpg|thumb|Making horseshoes in India]]
[[File:Easyboot.jpg|thumb|A [[hoof boot]]]]
[[File:Tule horseshoe.jpg|right|thumb|An oversized horseshoe for soft soil to distribute horse's weight]]
Historians differ on the origin of the horseshoe.<ref name=Krebs27/> Because [[iron]] was a valuable commodity, and any worn out items were generally reforged and reused, it is difficult to locate clear [[archaeology|archaeological]] evidence.<ref name="vegetius">{{Cite web|url=http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/invtshoe/winvhrs.htm |title=Who Invented Horseshoeing? |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980208011824/http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/invtshoe/winvhrs.htm |archive-date=8 February 1998 }}{{dubious|date=October 2012}} Archived 8 February 1998.</ref> Although some credit the [[Druid]]s, there is no hard evidence to support this claim.<ref name=Krebs27/> In 1897 four bronze horseshoes with what are apparently nail holes were found in an Etruscan tomb dated around 400&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Thayer">{{cite journal |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=6|issue=4|pages=398–403|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/AJA/6/4/Etruscan_Horseshoes*.html |first=W. N. |last=Bates|title=Etruscan Horseshoes from Corneto|year=1902 |access-date=1 November 2015 |doi=10.2307/496665 |jstor=496665|s2cid=191408516}}</ref> The assertion by some historians that the Romans invented the "mule shoes" sometime after 100&nbsp;BC is supported by a reference by [[Catullus]] who died in 54&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Krebs27>Robert E. Krebs, ''Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Ancient World'', {{ISBN|0313313423}}, (Greenword/ABC-CLIO), pp. 27–28.</ref> However, these references to use of horseshoes and muleshoes in Rome may have been to the "hipposandal"—leather boots, reinforced by an iron plate, rather than to nailed horseshoes.<ref name=SciAm117>Rodney Carlisle, ''Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries'' (2 August 2004), {{ISBN|0471244104}}, John Wiley, p. 117.</ref>

Existing references to the nailed shoe are relatively late, first known to have appeared around AD&nbsp;900, but there may have been earlier uses given that some have been found in layers of dirt. There are no extant references to nailed horseshoes prior to the reign of Byzantine Emperor [[Leo VI the Wise|Leo VI]], and by 973 occasional references to them can be found.<ref name=SciAm117/> The earliest clear written record of iron horseshoes is a reference to "crescent figured irons and their nails" in AD 910.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7x5AAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA10-PA33 |title=An essay on the knowledge of the ancients respecting the art of shoeing the horse, and of the probable period of the commencement of this art |first=Bracy |last=Clark |year=1831 |page=33}}</ref> There is very little evidence of any sort that suggests the existence of nailed-on shoes prior to AD&nbsp;500 or 600, though there is a find dated to the fifth century AD of a horseshoe, complete with nails, found in the tomb of the Frankish King [[Childeric I]] at [[Tournai]], Belgium.<ref name="Britannica 15th">"Horseshoe." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 15th edn. Vol. 20. 2005. 651–51. Print.</ref>

Around 1000&nbsp;AD, cast [[bronze]] horseshoes with nail holes became common in Europe. A design with a scalloped outer rim and six nail holes was common.<ref name="Cohen"/> According to Gordon Ward the scalloped edges were created by double punching the nail holes causing the edges to bulge.<ref name="ward">{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Gordon |title=On dating old horse-shoes |date=1939 |publisher=The Museum |location=Hull}}</ref> The 13th and 14th centuries brought the widespread manufacturing of iron horseshoes.<ref name="Bellis">{{Cite web|first=Mary |last=Bellis |url=http://theinventors.org/library/inventors/blhorseshoe.htm |title=Horseshoes, Nails, Saddles, and Riding |publisher=TheInventors.org |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> By the time of the [[Crusades]] (1096–1270), horseshoes were widespread and frequently mentioned in various written sources.<ref name="vegetius"/> In that period, due to the value of iron, horseshoes were even accepted in lieu of coin to pay taxes.<ref name=Cohen/>

By the 13th century, shoes were forged in large quantities and could be bought ready made.<ref name="Cohen"/> Hot shoeing, the process of shaping a heated horseshoe immediately before placing it on the horse, became common in the 16th century.<ref name="Bellis"/> From the need for horseshoes, the craft of blacksmithing became "one of the great staple crafts of medieval and modern times and contributed to the development of metallurgy."<ref name="Britannica 15th"/> A treatise titled "No Foot, No Horse" was published in England in 1751.<ref name=Cohen/>

In 1835, the first U.S. [[patent]] for a horseshoe manufacturing machine capable of making up to 60 horseshoes per hour was issued to Henry Burden.<ref name="Bellis"/> In mid-19th-century [[Canada]], marsh horseshoes kept horses from sinking into the soft intertidal mud during dike-building. In a common design, a metal horseshoe holds a flat wooden shoe in place.<ref>Gray, Charlotte, ''The Museum Called Canada: 25 Rooms of Wonder'', Random House, 2004.</ref>

===China===
In China, iron horseshoes became common during the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368), prior to which rattan and leather shoes were used to preserve animal hooves. Evidence of the preservation of horse hooves in [[China]] dates to the [[Warring States period]] (476–221 BC), during which [[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]] recommended shaving horse hooves to keep them in good shape. The [[Discourses on Salt and Iron]] in 81 BC mentions using leather shoes, but it is not clear if they were used for protecting horse hooves or to aid in mounting the horse. Remnants of iron horseshoes have been found in what is now northeast China, but the tombs date to the [[Goguryeo]] period in 414 AD. A mural in the [[Mogao Caves]] dated to 584 AD depicts a man caring for a horse's hoof, which some speculate might be depicting horseshoe nailing, but the mural is too eroded to tell clearly.

The earliest reference to iron horseshoes in China dates to 938 AD during the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]]. A monk named Gao Juhui sent to the [[Western Regions]] writes that the people in Ganzhou (now [[Zhangye]]) taught him how to make "horse hoof ''muse''", which had four holes in it that connected to four holes in the horse's hoof, and were thus put together. They also recommended using yak skin shoes for camel hooves. Iron horseshoes however did not become common for another three centuries. [[Zhao Rukuo]] writes in ''[[Zhu Fan Zhi]]'', finished in 1225, that the horses of the [[Arabs]] and [[Persians]] used metal for horse shoes, implying that horses in China did not. After the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in 1271 AD, iron horseshoes became more common in northern China. When [[Thomas Blakiston]] travelled up the [[Yangtze]], he noted that in [[Sichuan]] "cattle wore straw shoes to prevent their slipping on the wet ground" while in northern China, "horses and cattle are shod with iron shoes and nails." The majority of Chinese horseshoe discoveries have been in [[Jilin]], [[Heilongjiang]], [[Liaoning]], Sichuan, and [[Tibet]].<ref name = "Yuan shoes">{{cite web| url = http://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2015/0430/c22219-26930801.html| title =    ~ K K {{!}} x «إߦZ x ~ b y -- -- H    }}</ref>