Take a thought- the horse shoe nail If you were to stop and think for just a moment about the seemingly insignificant object that is the ‘horse shoe nail’, and say to yourself “if I start from this small object and associate it with everything that is pertinent...”, then you might start to see this humble piece of hammered steel for what it really is.

This piece of steel has helped shape the development of mankind, from as early as 500-600 BC. Man’s very existence in peace and war has depended on the horse and its efficient mobility. This mobility across varied terrains was mostly thanks to the horse shoe. The way man has been able to protect his horse’s hooves from wear and tear was done by “nailing” steel shoes onto the horse’s hooves. Without the nail, it was not possible to keep the shoe on, without the shoe you might not have a hoof, and without the hoof you do not have a horse.

This brings me to the famous poem by George Herbert written in 1640.

“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost,

For want of a horse, the battle was lost,

For loss of the battle, the war was lost.”

If we look at the horse shoe nail, we see not only how it has helped worldwide development and man’s ability to travel to further places and at faster speeds, but also the technology that has gone into the process of making the nail itself. In the beginning, each individual nail was hand-made with each shoe taking between 4 to 6 nails alone. And in today’s world, the nails are machine manufactured by the millions and exported to every corner of the world.

The first written document about horse shoes comes from the Qur’an in 632AD where it mentions a warhorse ... “which strikes fire by dashing its hooves against the stones”, taken literally, a shod horse.

The first nailed iron shoe uncovered in Europe dates back to the 5^th century AD and was found at Fournai, Belgium in the tomb of the Frankish King Childerie 1^st.

It is interesting here that the Romans, back in the mid 1^st century, had already designed a ‘hipposandal’ which resembled the modern day hoof boot, whereby the hoof was protected without the need to attach shoe and nails through the horse’s hoof wall. For a short time the ‘hipposandal’ and the steel shoe coexisted as options of hoof protection. However, the sandal method was dropped in favour of the shoe because it was not suitable for long distance travel, which in those days was necessary to enable discovery of and trade between foreign lands.

Man’s ever growing desire to seek out and conquer new lands has always been unconditionally aided by the noble horse.

Alexander the Great (365BC), desired to reach “the end of the world and the Great Outer Sea”. His journey was made possible not only by his own horse Bucphalus, but also by his army of men and horses. Genghis Khan (AD1155 – 1227), came to power by uniting many of the nomadic horsemen tribes of northeast Asia and thus founding the Mongol Empire. With the aid of the horse, Khan conquered and ruled the largest land empire in the world’s history. And in the 19^th century, Napoleon’s armies helped shape the politics of Europe with the help of the horse.

Throughout both world wars, the horse has played an important part, with military strategy depending on them.

Even in World War 1, where the invention of the motor vehicle was under way, the horse accounted for up to 80% of the German army’s transport. Not to mention the 37,000 odd farriers who were employed to maintain the horses’ hooves.

The horses and their hooves have not only been the major influence in warfare, but also throughout time have been there to help man in his survival, from ploughing the fields, sourcing the coal, pulling carts and wagons, and carrying populations across the steppes and deserts. The horse shaped our world and in exchange we have shaped the horse, breeding them into what we think suitable for our needs, from heavy footed draught horses to the swift Arabs. The majority of horses, when in work, need hoof protection and that comes back to the nail and the shoe.

As man has been to every part of the globe and is now looking to space, we no longer need the horse to continue to carry us in this traditional way. We should begin to ask ourselves “why do we need to chastise the horse, especially its hoof? Now we have better horse hoof friendly options, do we need to continue to shoe horses in the traditional steel way?” In just the last twenty years or so, the development of our understanding of how the hoof works has been a huge turning point. Finally, the times are changing, not only for the horse, but also man’s consciousness and the way he sees his place in the world, how we treat each other and our attitude toward the environment.

We as mankind are in a very privileged state in that our modern way of life allows us the freedom, in our western cultures, to choose how we want to live. We no longer need the horse as our mode of transport to carry our loads and fight our wars. We have machines and technology to do all this for us. But this is no reason for us to forget about what the horse has done for us, and to give thanks to this humble creature for its centuries of unconditional service. We have the inventions of faster and cleaner modes of transport such as electric and solar vehicles, and just as we had the horse, we have the choice as to how we go about progressing into the future. We need to look at where our values stand.

With all the knowledge we have today at our finger tips, how do we want our children to perceive us?

We might start to show the horse the respect it deserves by no longer nailing cold steel to their hooves, and learn to help the horse to grow a healthy hoof so they don’t need hoof protection or use protective boots .

We might begin to look at ourselves and see that we have the freedom to choose how we as mankind shape the future of this planet.

Choose to look at how we can build up our land to make it healthier, instead of spraying and killing the weeds and insects that hinder us with toxic chemicals. Nature’s way is already perfect.

Choose also not to drive nails through horse’s hooves. The nail is no longer needed. We have all the resources to move forward in an ethical way.

If what the scientists are proving about our planet and global warming is correct, then not only is mankind to blame for what is happening, but we are also the only hope to fix it. We still have time. We can start by looking at prevention, conservation and sustainability and look to the future of our planet for those who are yet to come.