Nov 17 2008
Leather Shoes on a Horse
Louis L’amour describes the use of leather shoes to disguise the tracks of a horse in Hanging Woman Creek. Pronto Pike is initially very confused about this practice when he first discovers it (p. 32).
This practice continues to be confusing as he believes at first that it is a sign that Indians are in the area. I haven’t been able to find a whole lot of information regarding this practice by Native Americans, but apparently it served the purpose of disguising the horse’s tracks so as to make it difficult to distinguish and follow. The tracks would be softer and leave a bit less of a mark, and in addition could be used to hide the marks left by a shod horse. I would imagine that they would also offer a bit of protection similar to iron horse shoes.
The ancient Greeks used leather horse shoes as did the ancient Chinese. There is no reason to believe that some Native American tribes would not have developed a similar use.
In the end it turns out that it is a white woman who is using the leather horse shoes in order to disguise her own passage.
