The Last Village Smithy

Outside, and a little to the south of the shop stood the ox shoeing device, also called an ox sling. The ox sling resembled the framework for a narrow barn stall, but it was much more ruggedly constructed. The animal would be led into the device and tied very closely at the front by its nose ring. A pair of wide leather belts were passed under its belly and attached to rollers high on each side of the frame. The rollers were about six or seven feet off the ground, and when turned with a long lever they would act as a winch and lift the ox totally off its feet. Each of the animal’s legs was then secured to one of the corner posts and all the ox could then do was bellow and complain. If it swished its tail too much, that got tied off too. The shoeing could then proceed in perfect safety, until the ox was released that is! Shoeing an ox took considerably longer than shoeing a horse. In addition to the time required to restrain and release the animal, it was necessary to shoe each foot twice. Unlike a horse which had a one piece hoof and was shod with a single U-shaped shoe, an ox had a split hoof requiring each half to be shod with a separate shoe. And, of course there were two types of ox shoes for each foot, inside shoes and outside shoes. On top of that, it was necessary to be much more careful in trimming and nailing to the hooves of an ox compared to the more robust hooves of a horse. Henry had several interesting stories from his younger years of shoeing oxen, and he loved to tell them to visitors at the shop. One of the best concerned an ox that was especially uncooperative. Luckily for Henry, it occurred when he was quite young and could run pretty fast! The gist of the story (possibly enhanced with the retelling over the years) was more or less as follows: The ox had protested its shoeing the whole time, but thanks to the ox sling, it had proceeded without incident. When the shoeing was over, the animal’s legs were untied and it was lowered back onto its feet. The unsuspecting owner untied the nose ring rope, expecting to have to encourage the ox to back slowly out of its confinement. Instead, the animal lunged backward yanking the lead rope out of the owner’s hands. Then the loose ox took a couple of quick turns around the open space in front of the lumber shed looking for something, or someone, to heap vengeance upon. Soon, it spotted Henry standing nearby still wearing his leather shoeing apron, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The ox lowered its head, snorted, and the race was on. One of the large sliding doors on the south side of the shop was wide open and Henry went through it on a dead run followed closely by the angry ox. Henry ran completely through the shop and out an open door on the garage end. Luckily, the ox was slowed somewhat by its new iron shoes which didn’t provide much traction on the hard concrete floor. But, it knew where Henry went and charged out the door after him. Henry always said that in any given situation, there was always something that was the best thing to do under the circumstances. These circumstances seemed to call for some solid protection from the oncoming ox, and soon! Henry rounded the corner of the shop and with the ox gaining ground he jumped into the outdoor vehicle repair pit located directly behind the gas pumps. The ox, possibly surprised at Henry’s sudden disappearance, cleared the corner of the open pit and kept on going across the road and downhill through the apple orchard celebrating its new found freedom and bellowing curses in ox language.