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Concept
Farrier
Summary
A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian's skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to care for horses' feet. Traditionally an occupation for men, in a number of countries women have now become farriers.
While the practice of putting protective hoof coverings on horses dates back to the first century, evidence suggests that the practice of nailing iron shoes into a horse's hoof is a much later invention. One of the first archaeological discoveries of an iron horseshoe was found in the tomb of Merovingian king Childeric I, who reigned from 458 to 481 or 482. The discovery was made by Adrien Quinquin in 1653, and the findings were written about by Jean-Jacques Chifflet in 1655. Chifflet wrote that the iron horseshoe was so rusted that it fell apart as he attempted to clean it. He did, however, make an illustration of the shoe and noted that it had four holes on each side for nails. Although this discovery places the existence of iron horseshoes during the later half of the fifth century, their further usage is not recorded until closer to the end of the millennia. Carolingian Capitularies, legal acts composed and published by Frankish kings until the ninth century, display a high degree of attention to detail when it came to military matters, even going as far as to specify which weapons and equipment soldiers were to bring when called upon for war. With each Capitulary that calls for horsemen, no mention of horseshoes can be found. Excavations from Viking-age burials also demonstrate a lack of iron horseshoes, even though many of the stirrups and other horse tack survived. A burial dig in Slovenia discovered iron bits, stirrups, and saddle parts but no horseshoes. The first literary mention of nailed horseshoes is found within Ekkehard's Waltharius, written c.
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