Two Lives Saved by a Similar Stratagem
“What two men saved their lives by reversing the shoes on their horses' hoofs?”
Ainsworth, an English novelist (born 1805), has introduced into "Rookwood" Dick Turpin's famous ride to York, in which he saved his life by reversing the shoes on his horse's hoofs. Turpin was a famous highwayman who was finally executed at York, 1739, for horse-stealing.
Robert Bruce escaped in similar manner from England into Scotland.