War Horse Hoofcare: Holy Horseshoeing at an Anvil Altar in France, 1918

Today we salute some holy horseshoeing. During the long battle in World War I to take (or defend) the Argonne Forest, American transport horses were stabled inside the ruins of a church in Consenvoye, in northeastern France. A corner of the once-grand church became the smithy where American farriers worked to keep the horses shod. 

Thanksgiving: Shoes for Turkeys? The Trot to Market Was Hard on Their Feet

Shoeing the Goose misericord carving photographed by Giles C. Watson

This blog post is an update on one of the most popular posts ever published on this blog. First published for Thanksgiving 2008, people from all over the world have remarked on this unusual bit of history, which is little known but can always fill in the gaps of a slow conversation with the relatives on a holiday afternoon.

Be thankful for many things this Thanksgiving. Among them: be thankful you don't have to shoe turkeys or help them with their lameness problems. Turkey feet were a major concern up until 100 years or so ago, when the railroads took over transporting livestock to market. Up until then, turkeys took to the highway on foot to be sold in the big cities. Unfortunately, turkey feet weren't made for trotting.

If the conversation lags around the dinner table during your Thanksgiving feast, pick up a drumstick and speculate straight-faced to some young relative, "Ever notice that no one ever eats turkey feet?"

Chances are, it never occurred to a child to question why the drumstick is an amputee.

Then answer your own question nonchalantly: "They used to shoe turkeys, you know."

Then wait. It's coming.

All eyes will turn to you. In-laws will raise eyebrows. Children will hold you in high esteem. Any dogs lying in wait will wag their tails.

And the medallion above, from a medieval church, proves it, even though that is a goose carved into a misericord, a sort of jump-seat ledge in church pews. (I highly recommend following the link to Giles Watson's site.) The goose appears to be stabilized in a stock and the farrier is hammering on its webbed foot.

Before railroads, the only way for turkeys and geese to get to market was to herd them along country roads. Drovers would purchase or consign them from multiple farmers and move great flocks toward the cities so they could be sold for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners.

How far do you think this turkey would be able to trot? Would he look the same when he arrived at the market? (Mark Robinson photo)

You would hear the poultry flocks, and see the dust clouds, long before they passed through your town. The poultry could eat among the stubble of harvested fields as they went. The drover didn't hurry them too much, since fatter birds meant higher prices for him.

Historically, New England writers like Hawthorne and Emerson wrote complaining comments about the huge flocks of turkeys clogging up the roads and impeding the post or the stagecoach.

Click here to listen to a Vermont Public Radio lecture about the great turkey droves to Boston for Thanksgiving.  

The problem was that the birds' feet and claws weren't cut out to march a few hundred miles. Turkeys were famous for just refusing to move, or they would roost up in trees for the night and not come down in the morning, perhaps because their feet were sore. Geese apparently were even more lame than turkeys because of their webbed feet.

Cattle, too, had a hard time marching to market, and were often shod along the way. In fact, farriers were in great demand to accompany drovers so that the cattle could be shod or attended to as needed along the route. Even pigs and sheep and goats had to be shod occasionally, although the old animal husbandry books tell us that pigs preferred woolen socks with a leather sole to shoes.

Buying the Thanksgiving turkey, circa 1910; double-click to enlarge and see detail. Library of Congress image

The drover's wagon followed slowly behind the drover, who was often on foot, with his dogs. The wagon picked up strays, or sick or lame birds. They stopped at drovers' inns, and pastured stock in rented or loaned fields (and trees) overnight.

I don't know how the geese were shod in Europe, but I have read that is was some crafty New Englanders who figured out a simpler way to do it. They developed a series of pits along the drovers' routes. In the first pit was warm tar; the turkeys and geese were herded into the pen and left for a bit, then moved to the second pen, which was sand. The sand, of course, stuck to the tar and made a gritty set of galoshes for the birds. About the time the tar wore off, they would arrive at the next set of pits.

It gives a new twist to the expression, "tarred and feathered", not to mention a "turkey trot".

It also explains why turkeys are rarely, if ever, sold with their feet still attached to their drumsticks.

Some cooks add these little paper "turkey feet" if serving the whole bird on a platter.  The tradition of roasting poultry without their feet may have a very practical origin. Photo courtesy of BenFrantzDale on Flickr.com

Giles introduced me to an ancient Reynard the Fox ditty:

"It’s easier to revive a corpse
Robbed from a hangman’s noose
Than to stoop with iron nails
And shoe your grandma’s goose.

Bend your back, you farrier,
The goose foot on your knee,
And watch the locals gather round
And chortle for to see.

It’s easier to make sure a tooth
That’s grey and hanging loose
Than to stoop with iron nails
And shoe your grandma’s goose.

And if the goose should give a honk
As you are a-nailing
You’ll never make a goose’s smith –
‘Tis a sign that you are failing.

You’ll tear your hair out, feathers fly,
It won’t be any use,
For I’d rather shoe my grandma
Than shoe my grandma’s goose."

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm very thankful for the people who read this blog and support Hoofcare Publishing and are my friends, even if we have never met. Thank you, most of all, for helping the horses.

 TO LEARN MORE

A history of drovers in America, including the race between geese and turkeys.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofBlog

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

St. Eloi, Patron Saint of Farriers, Honored Today

Traditional sculptures in France and Belgium are "bouquet de la St Eloi". Shaped like wreaths, they are displays of a farrier's prowess at the anvil. Most are circles of horseshoes welded together but this one tells a story. Notice St Eloi is top and center. Supposedly, all these signs contain a code across the bottom that is readable only by other professional farriers. Maybe it's a message to St Eloi in case he happens to come down the street.

Today is a feast day in many Catholic countries in Europe, especially France and Belgium. It is the day of Saint Eloi, the patron saint of farriers, veterinarians and horses. (He is sometimes called Saint Eligius, or Eloi may be spelled Aloy, in some regions.) According to tradition, no farriers shoe horses today. They gather together, instead, and have a festive time.

I will try to share some of the information I have learned about St Eloi and the holiday, as best as I have been able to get from translations and helpful French-speaking farrier friends.

A survey of art history can be done just by tracing all the famous images of the legend of St. Eloi. Here is Botticelli's intepretation, part of the altarpiece of San Marco. It can be seen in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

I first learned of St Eloi when visiting the forge of the Republican Guard stables in Paris. There was a little shrine inside the forge and I was told that Eloi was the patron saint of farriers. My hosts assured me on one day a year, farriers do not work.

In the past, it was a tradition for horsemen to give farriers tips on this day. It's a very special tradition and still taken seriously in some areas. I would love to be in France some year for this day.





According to tradition, there is a procession of farriers through towns. Take a look at what these fellows are carrying. Note the anvil on the processional banner. But the other parade prop is adorned with bits of harness and the tail of a horse. Farriers walk in a processional to wherever they are headed to eat and drink for the rest of the day.

Would you know where to look to find horseshoes in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris? Just look for St. Eloi in the hall of saints and you will find them. (Wikimedia Creative Commons image)

Here's the legend of this interesting saint:

Eloi was born in France in 588.

Eloi prided himself on his special skill of being able to shoe any horse, and of his prowess at the forge. He loved to boast about his skill and challenge others to match him.
According to Church legend, Christ, in the person of a traveler, came to the forge where Eloi was working and asked if he could use the anvil to fix a loose shoe.

St. Eloi is probably the only saint who
brandishes a hammer.

Eloi gave permission to the stranger, and was shocked to see the man twist a fore leg of the beast out of the shoulder joint, bring it into the forge, and nail on the shoe. This being done, he replaced the leg, patted the horse on the shoulder, and asked the farrier if he knew anyone who could do such a neat piece of work as that.

"Yes, I do," said the boastful Eloi. "I will do it myself."

Not to be outdone by this stranger, Eloi started to wrench the leg off a horse waiting to be shod. A terrible mess ensued, but the leg was removed. Eloi then made a very beautiful shoe and nailed it to the severed leg. The traveler applauded him for the beauty of his forgework.

But when Eloi returned to the three-legged horse, it was lying near death. How would he explain that to his customer? And why had the traveler been able to remove a leg without hurting the horse and not Eloi?

Eloi pleaded with the traveler to fix the leg he had ripped off the dying horse.

"Are you sure you are cured of pride and vanity by this mischance?" said the stranger.

"Oh, I am, I am!" cried Eloi. "I will never again, with God's help, indulge a proud thought. But why did you induce me to do this wicked thing by setting me the example?"

"My object was to root a strong vice out of your heart. Give me the leg," said the stranger. So saying, he applied the broad end of the limb to its place, tapped the animal on the shoulder, and the next moment the horse was standing up strong and uninjured.

But Eloi was alone in his forge. There was no sign of the mysterious stranger or his steed. He had witnessed a miracle, right there in the forge.

He spent the rest of his life devoted to the Church and was made a saint of all humble, hardworking people, especially workers in the metal crafts and most significantly, the farriers of the world and the horses they shoe.

Farriers and other metal workers also used to send cards for St Eloi. I have been collecting these for years. I wish I knew more about what they symbolized. They look something like Valentines, but with lots of heavy metal and horse hooves. Maybe St Eloi was a matchmaker, too.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. All images and text protected to full extent of law. Permissions for use in other media or elsewhere on the web can be easily arranged.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online or received via a daily email through an automated delivery service.

Comments to individual posts are welcome; please click on the comment icon at the bottom of the post.

Will You See a Horse Being Shod in Your Church Window on Easter Sunday?

A church window expertly photographed by Dave Webster

Not out the window, but in the window! In at least two churches I've found, farriers are featured in the windows!

The first, which you see above, is in St Cuthbert in Kildale, in North Yorkshire, England. Notice that the farrier is using what we call now a "toeing knife" to trim the hoof, instead of nippers with jaws.

The church hosts some magnificent contemporary (1990s) stained windows by the English artist firm, Goddard and Gibbs. The church windows show a yoke of oxen, too!

Surely there is no more famous farrier window than in the magnificent cathedral at Chartres in France. This window was a gift from the guild of farriers and was sent to Hoof Blog readers by our dear friend, French farrier Denis Leveillard, former president of the European Federation of Farriers.

It's interesting to note that this farrier has a hammer in his hand but he's not nailing on a shoe. He might be guiding some sort of toe knife but the foot is on the ground, so I might need some Euro-coaching to explain this for you. Or maybe he's clinching a nail?

Food for thought: The Cathedral at Chartres was completed in 1260, roughly 700 years before St Cuthbert.

Thanks to Dave and Denis for sharing these images...and happy jelly beans, chocolate eggs and marshmallow Peeps to all!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.