The Warden Memorial Equine Collection contains over 1,000 books plus an extensive archive and serials component. Just about every topic relating to horses is covered including farriery, represented by more than 50 titles dating back to the mid-17th century. Since the library purchases titles to supplement the original gift this subset of the collection is growing.
Farriers today practice the centuries old trade of attaching metal shoes to horses’ hooves which requires dual skills in blacksmithing and veterinary science. In the past, prior to modern specialization, farriers were called in to do the full range of work veterinarians now do—treating equine diseases and maladies—as well as look after their hooves. This use of “farrier” can still be seen in Thomas Brown’s 1894 The Complete Modern Farrier, a manual covering equine disease, anatomy, feeding, breeding, vices, and many more topics.
Maintaining and caring for horses was expensive, one reason why ownership was more common amongst the aristocracy, particularly during the early modern period. Thomas de Grey’s 1656 The Compleat Horse-man, and Expert Ferrier was “published at the earnest request of sundry Noble and worthy Gentlemen, for the general good and benefit of the Nation”.
Exactly 200 years later, Richard Mason wrote his book for an audience of farmers, assuring them in his preface that he will “avoid all hard names, technical terms, etc.; and will offer to the public the information I possess, with candour and simplicity.” Modern, professionalized, science-based diagnosis and treatment replaced the medical side of farriery but the books displayed here help preserve the history of this profession.
Collection: Warden Memorial Equine Collection
THE NEW-ENGLAND FARRIER, AND FAMILY PHYSICIANCompiled by Josiah Richardson Second edition enlarged Exeter. 1828 Veterinary schools were established in France in the 1760s, in Britain in 1791, and in the United States in 1863. Since professionalization arrived late in America, recipe books filled the gap. Jewett’s succinct advice, partly reprinted in Richardson’s larger and more expansive volume, was originally offered to the public in 1795, perhaps the first such work by an American. Horse remedies are substantive components of both volumes, but Richardson’s handbook is encyclopedic. Human health is addressed, “coffee and tea are extremely hurtful to persons who have weak nerves”, but so are pests like rats: “Take 1 quart of Oat meal, 4 drops of Oil Rhodium, 1 grain of Musk, 2 nuts of Nux Vomica, powdered; mix the whole together and place it where the rats frequent; continue to do so while they eat it, and it will soon destroy them, be they ever so numerous.” Fortunately, thorough indexing in both works makes them easy to use. |
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THE TRUE METHOD OF DIETING HORSESW. Gibson Third edition, corrected London. 1731 Some publications on horse care took particular interest in one aspect of the subject. William Gibson, author of The Farrier’s New Guide (1720), Farrier’s Dispensatory (1721), and A New Treatise on the Diseases of Horses (1751), offers extensive guidance on feeding horses in this compact volume. He borrowed sections from illustrious predecessors, Jacques de Solleysel and the Duke of Newcastle, but his contributions on diet are original. Gibson discusses feeding regimes for horses at rest, for draught horses, travelling horses, and racehorses. The latter’s diet should include stale, never fresh, “horse-bread”, a high protein baked mixture of peas, fava beans, and wheat flour. |
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THE ARMY HORSE IN ACCIDENT AND DISEASERevised edition Washington. 1909 Horses were an important part of the war machine until the 20th century when trench warfare, barbed wire, and machine guns drastically reduced their effectiveness on the battlefield. But, up to that point, manuals like this one helped soldiers select, maintain, and treat their mounts. Other handbooks of the period offered similar information but the treatment of tropical diseases in this book is unique. |
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MODERN HORSESHOEINGG. Fleming Chicago. 1904 This work deals exclusively with shoeing horses unlike most of the books in this case which focus on equine health and medical treatments. Fleming begins with a short overview of the anatomy of the foot and hoof and then covers the shoeing process, from preparing the hoof and shoe to attaching and rasping the shoe. |
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EVERY MAN HIS OWN FARRIERFrancis Clater Twenty-second edition London. 1813 The popularity and longevity of some writings on farriery is hard to underestimate. This title, originally published in 1783, went through 30 editions, with the later ones edited first by Clater’s son, John, then by Edward Mayhew, J.S. Skinner, and D. McTaggart. This handbook is unusually well laid out, outlining first the nature and symptoms of every disorder, followed by the best methods of cure, and then, methods of preparing and compounding medicines in a series of consecutively numbered recipes. Clater’s work as a chemist and druggist no doubt informs his advice to avoid “bad drugs”—prepared from damaged or adulterated seeds and roots. |
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THE PRACTICAL FARRIER, FOR FARMERSRichard Mason Philadelphia. 1856 Horses might be considered the main subject of Mason’s work, but he also included remarks on mules, oxen, cows, calves, sheep, dogs, and swine. Not much is known about Richard Mason beyond his Virginia origins, but his treatise on horses, first published in 1811, was the standard manual for horsemen for decades, reprinted numerous times in different editions over a period of 75 years. The somewhat rudimentary illustrations changed little between early and late editions. |
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THE NEW-ENGLAND FARRIERPaul Jewett Second edition enlarged Exeter. 1822 |
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THE COMPLETE MODERN FARRIERThomas Brown New edition Edinburgh. 1894 This manual covers all varieties of domestic beasts, but horses are Brown’s primary topic. By the end of the 19th century, mechanization of color printing technology made illustrated books like this one more economical. It is also interesting to find Brown addressing in his introduction the professionalization of veterinary science, distinguishing between those times when an amateur might apply his remedies and when educated practitioners must be involved. |
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Yorick Wilson
London. 1809
Strangles, a bacterial infection of the upper respiratory system, was common in the 18th century and is still a 21st century problem. Prosser summarized at length prevailing views about its causes and treatments which consisted largely of bleeding, administration of nitre (potassium nitrate), and use of an emollient glyster (enema). Wilson doesn’t mention bleeding but recommends draining any “tumour” that forms under the jaw, giving a purge made of aloe, ginger, rhubarb, and castor-oil, and feeding warm bran mash during the illness. Brown’s Complete modern farrier (1894) still recommended very similar treatments but by 1909, the army manual on horse diseases had dropped bleeding and purging.
George Skeavington
London and NewYork. Circa 1850
Like most of the books displayed here, this work was intended for a lay audience--the farmer, the traveller, the private gentleman. Its author intends to save owners from the “gross ignorance” of practitioners who merely follow “infallible receipts” handed down from previous generations. Skeavington offers instead a work based on science and empiric evidence. However, this large item, decorated with skillfully engraved prints after paintings by Horace Vernet and George Morland, is not meant to be a pocket handbook. It would be more at home in a gentleman’s library than in his stables.
Thomas Brown
New edition
Edinburgh. 1894
This manual covers all varieties of domestic beasts, but horses are Brown’s primary topic. By the end of the 19th century, mechanization of color printing technology made illustrated books like this one more economical. It is also interesting to find Brown addressing in his introduction the professionalization of veterinary science, distinguishing between those times when an amateur might apply his remedies and when educated practitioners must be involved.
