[78-L] Sunrise ^

[Benno Häupl]

3. if horses need their hooves to be shod, why not the cattle?

Never seen any ox shoes?  I see them sometimes on eBay Germany and France 
in the 'Primitives' section of antiques. Unlike horse shoes, they are of half moon shape, 
and much smaller in diameter, of course.  Very much like the irons for the human's shoes. 
The ones offered on eBay mostly date from medieval times. They usually go for 
about $100 a piece. 

Mind you, cows are artiodactyla (paired hooves), and horses are perissodactyla, i.e. 
they only have one hoof per foot. Double hooves on a foot spread when the animal 
walks, and so the surface of the foot extends (like the foot of a camel), therefore only 
oxen that were used to draw carts on paved roads were shod. 

Benno