A friend claimed that during the invasion of Russia, Napolean shod his horses backwards to confuse the enemy. The idea was that the backwards shoeing would leave tracks leading out of Russia instead of inward. Unless Napolean did something to hide the infantries tracks, I think this is totally made up.
Am I wrong? Did Napoleon, or any army for this matter, disguise their movements in this manner? Is there any evidence of this occurring?
Edit: To clarify this question, if the Napoleon did indeed shoe his horses backwards, would there be evidence of this order? Presumably an order to shoe all horses backward in the army would leave evidence. Thus if we find no evidence of the order, can we assume that is was never issued and this is a popular legend?
His horse would be lame in no time. Take a look at why horses are shod and how it's done. That would be extremely painful for the horse not allowing it to walk correctly, on top of Bonaparte risking not being mounted and not having effective cavalry? I'd say it's completely made up.