Ive taught about this myself and it would make alot of sense.
Im working on 4 Gabion baskets to place in front of my gun to add a bit more historic feel.
The idea is to protect the front and sides of the carriage wheels from something like round or chainshot. I read that even a single round shot fired at an oblique at an enemy artillery piece could chew up the wheels or the split trails and render the entire piece useless.
source:http://www.syler.com/SiegeWarfare/outside/gabions.html
Now Im just trying to find out if spherical case was ever shot from cannons in the 1810s.