While I never did get good marks in History classes (I have to stop and think sometimes to remember important dates in my OWN life, much less others!), I do love seeing and learning about historical artifacts. As a child (and even as a teen) I always wanted to be an archaeologist, digging and discovering.
What I really love is when I find a horseshoe (or other antique) that comes with a story. It isn’t often that you find the history of a lowly horseshoe, but sometimes you will, and sometimes all you have to do is ask, as some sellers don’t think it’s important to say where they dug the shoe up, or how their grandfather was an award winning farrier back in the day and this was one last shoe he kept hanging above his garage door.
Isn’t it beautiful? The curved toe bar and angled heel caulks? This shoe, and several others that I ended up purchasing, was found by the seller’s uncle when he was younger. He was fascinated with old logging camps in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and spent much of his time searching them out through the woods. He picked up several old horseshoes in such locations, and nailed them all along his fences. Their age and condition testify to them probably being worn by the horses of lumberjacks to haul wood in the 1800’s-early 1900’s. Notice the extra bars at heel and toe, called caulkins, that were added for traction. I see this a LOT in old shoes in Michigan, where farming and logging were commonplace in our history.This shoe was found along an old stagecoach road in California. This enormous draft horse shoe was found near the old Smithy in Achafoila on the Aisle of Luing in Scotland. For some reason I can imagine a big old workhorse named Betty wearing it.This shoe was found along with a few others near an old gold mine.This mule shoe was found around Fort Custer, in Montana. Was it from the Indian Wars? This shoe was found metal detecting along the Oregon Trail in Wyoming. It has so much wear to it!This shoe was from a mule used in tours at the Grand Canyon.This solid copper shoe was from a pit pony in a coal mine in Wales.
You may be wondering why all of my shoes have tags on them. I tag and number each individual shoe, and write a description of it on an index card so i know where i bought it, everything I know about it, how much I paid, etc. I also draw myself a little picture of it so it is easily recognized when I go to find the individual shoe. I keep the cards organized in a card index.
How I record important information about each shoe. The number on the card matches the numbered tag on the shoe.
I hope that with careful record keeping I can safeguard the history of each of my shoes. Unfortunately I didn’t do these things when I first started collecting as a child, but I remember a few details about my favorite shoes.
I have many, many more shoes in my collection (at the moment of writing this I own over 330 shoes). Record keeping helps keep their information organized and readily available. Now if I can just find an easy way to keep the shoes themselves organized 🤔.
If you collect horseshoes, you may come across some strange ones. There are quite a few variations that were created for different purposes, for hoof therapy, correcting a horse’s movement, or for aesthetic purposes. I am here to share a few from my collection.
This shoe has an extended toe, which is usually used to treat different tendon issues in horses. This shoe, while looking quite strange, is actually the metal part of a rubber horseshoe. The rubber has been lost for some reason, and would have been used to cushion the foot like a sneaker, protecting the horse from impacts on hard surfaces such as paved roads.This is a runner horseshoe from a carriage horse in Frankenmuth, Michigan. The metal part is embedded in the thick rubber or the shoe. I also have another one that was collected by its previous owner in the 1940’s, so they can be older. A side view. Very thick rubber.This type of horseshoe, a heart bar shoe, is used to treat different lamenesses by relieving pressure on different areas of the hoof. Another odd therapy shoe with hand-made extensions at the heels. Here is another bar shoe. This one is very large—probably a draft horse, and has calkins added to provide traction. This shoe is very odd. It was probably used to treat several different problems on the hoof. Here is another therapeutic bar shoe.Another therapeutic bar shoe. This one has an extension on the heel.This is one of my favorites. There is a piece of metal almost like a long toe clip, plus a wide branch that might add more support to part of the hoof. It has a manufacturer name on it.The other side of the above shoe. it looks to be a ready-made shoe as opposed to handmade. This is a Phoenix Neverslip horseshoe. It was made by the Phoenix horseshoe company, which sold studs that screwed into the large round holes and provided traction in winter. They were popular from about 1880-1940This is a Giant Grip horseshoe. It is very similar, in fact almost identical to the Phoenix Neverslip, and takes identical studs that screw in. This shoe was patented in 1901, when the company started.This is an ENORMOUS Scotch bottom draft horse shoe. The smaller shoes displayed inside of it are pony sized (the label says quarter horses but i am guessing they must have been yearlings as they are smaller than normal). Scotch bottom shoes are slightly larger than the hoof, and are used to widen the support of the hoof, alter their gate, and absorb shock.A patten bar shoe. It is used to rest a limb after a tendon injury. A side view of the patten bar shoe. The raised part actually touches the ground, like the heel of a high heeled shoe, so i am holding it upside down. Two more therapy shoes. These are ox shoes. Each cow hoof gets 2 shoes, as they have cloven hooves. This particular pair was patented in 1880. Not a horseshoe, but still pretty cool.This is an odd shoe that I haven’t seen before. It is divided into to sections. That screw together.They are definitely horseshoes, but i am not sure on their purpose. The lighter section obviously gets nailed on the hoof like a regular shoe, and the other section, which is much heavier, easily screws onto it. My best guess is that they are used to weight the feet, possibly to overemphasize the horse’s gait (which I don’t agree with). Another fuess is that they could be used to medicate the hoof, but i doubt it as they a very heavy.This is an aluminum horseshoe, usually for racing.
As you can see there are many different shoes out there. Most farrier books on horseshoeing will have examples of different types of shoes and what they are used for. Also check the internet. I feel that i have only just scratched the surface of what is available.
I purchased this horseshoe from someone based in the United Kingdom. Her father had been a coal mining enthusiast and collected many items as souvenirs, including this pony shoe. It was believed to have been from a mine in Wales.
Coal miners used to use ponies to haul loads of coal, as a larger horse would not have had enough head clearance in the tunnels. They had to have solid copper or brass shoes on the horses to prevent sparks that might cause fires what with all of the flammable coal present. This shoe, I believe, is copper. It is not magnetic.
There are two small toe clips present (the clips on this shoe have been bent slightly from handling, particularly since copper is softer than iron, which is what most shoes are made from). With toe clips present, it is safe to say that this particular shoe is dated anytime after 1850, since that is the time that toe clips were invented.
Absolutely one of my favorite finds! Remember, when looking for a pit pony shoe, always check to see if it is magnetic as there are shoes out there that have only been plated or painted with copper or brass for aesthetic purposes and are not actually pit pony shoes.
This shoe is a new find for my collection. I believe it is a spare shoe used for emergencies.
The leather is in poor condition, but it is a boot that buckles over the hoof. It is very similar to a lawn boot, and can easily be mistaken for one at first glance, except that the lawn boots were made with a flat, solid surface of leather to prevent clumps of sod from being scooped out as the horse walked. This spare boot has a horseshoe attached to the bottom and is hollow with no bottom except for the shoe.
Bottom of the spare shoe. There is a metal horseshoe attached, and the boot is basically hollow.Bottom of an antique lawn boot. The surface is flat with no hollowed out area that might scoop out sod and ruin the grass.
The spare shoe boot would probably have been carried along, perhaps in a carriage or wagon, in case a horse lost its shoe while working. It could easily be buckled in place so the horse would still be able to finish the day of work in comfort. Just like people, if you lost one of your shoes it would be difficult walking the rest of the day with one shoe missing.
In the middle of the toe area, the metal shoe is hinged to allow fitting on different sized hooves.
Today I am going to share some specialty horseshoes from my collection. These are all products that can be attached to a regular horseshoe for special purposes. I currently have a bog shoe, a snow shoe, a lawn boot, and ice cleats.
The snowshoe
The snowshoe I have is made of steel. They can also be made of wood or even rope and wood. The shoe I have is made for the horse to set their hoof in place, then a screw is tightened at the bottom so it clamps onto the horse’s shoe that is nailed to their hoof.
This is the snowshoe with a regular shoe to show where the horse’s hoof would go.
The metal cage at the bottom of this horseshoe would help distribute the horse’s weight on the snow to help them from sinking in as far. There are also a series of holes around the outer rim, possibly for adding studs for traction. This shoe could probably be used on muddy ground, as well.
The bog shoe
The bog shoe (also called a mud or marsh shoe) works similarly to the snowshoe, in that it makes the hoof surface bigger to distribute the horse’s weight so it doesn’t sink down as easily in mud or even snow. This shoe is made of wood and steel. The hoof is positioned in the center of the shoe and a metal rod with a screw is tightened on it with a wing nut to hold the hoof in place. This particular shoe was patented December 8, 1891 by J.D. Dodge.
The underside of the bog shoeWith a horseshoe in place to demonstrate where the hoof would sitA set, plus one, of removable snow cleats
My antique removable ice cleats were patented July 6, 1880 by Chas. G. Hill.
One of the ice cleats attached to a shoe (this is the side that would contact the ground).Attached to a shoe. This is the side attached to the bottom of the horse’s hoof.
These attachments have a large screw-tightened piece that helps it clamp onto the shoe. There are metal cleats on this attachment that help give the horse traction on ice.
Unattached to a shoe. This is the side that touches the ground.Unattached to a shoe. This is the side that slips onto the horse’s nailed-on shoe.This is a lawn boot.
The lawn boot is a thick leather boot that buckles over a horse’s hoof and regular shoe. These boots were used to keep the horse’s hooves from churning up pieces of sod while pulling a lawn mower, back in the day when horses were needed to pull lawn mowing equipment on large estates.
The inside of the boot. The bottom is held together by copper rivets.
The bottom of the boot, which is in contact with the ground.
The back with its buckles.
Of course, this is just a small selection of what is out there. There are many different varieties and types of shoes and attachments that have been invented over the years to help improve footing or to better care for lame horses.
I have been collecting horseshoes all of my life, and have a decent amount from Great Britain. The shoes from this area are much easier to date for me, as there is more written documentation about shoeing practices, much more research has been done, and I have a couple of excellent research books on them. One of the books that I have found is ‘Old Horseshoes’ by Ivan G. Sparks.
This is a great book! It is small but filled with good information!
Another excellent book is ‘The Medieval Horse and its Equipment’ by the Museum of London. The Editor, John Clark, categorizes the different types of shoes a little differently than Ivan Sparks, but gives them roughly the same time periods. Today I am going to focus on the Guildhall shoe (according to Ivan Sparks) or Type 4 (according to John Clark).
Another great source is the Museum of London’s website. They have many photos of medieval shoes and their approximate dates. I often quiz myself on trying to date them according to what I have read in books, and use their shoes to help identify some of my own more puzzling examples.
The Guildhall shoe, according to Ivan Sparks, has a rounded outer edge and an arched inner edge. This shoe is a good example:
These shoes gained popularity around 1350 AD to accommodate the larger breeds of horses being imported to the area. They gradually were replaced by keyhole shoes by around the 1600’s. According to John Clark, they were often found in the 14-15th centuries (around 13-1400’s).
They tended to have just one calkin, but they could have two as well. They sometimes had 6 nailholes, and sometimes 7 (3 on one side and 4 on the other). The shoes are fairly small, maybe about the size of today’s average riding horse. Certainly not as large as today’s drafts!
Below are some samples from my own collection. They have been cleaned so I can more easily identify the number of nailholes, special features, etc.
As you can see, most of these shoes are pretty small.This shoe is quite thick and heavy! I left a rusty patina on it, but they are all coated with clear Rustoleum paint to stop further rustingAnother photo of the shoe above, to show just how thick it is!I believe this is a later shoe, possibly getting a little closer to the keyhole variety. It is a bit larger than the others, and the squared off heel on the left seems to remind me of the keyhole heels.This shoe has a great angular inner profile! It is a bit larger than the others. It also has a lot of damage to the right side.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if these shoes could talk? To hear all of the stories of the horses that once were, what their lives were like, and all that occurred in the hundreds of years that these shoes were under ground!
As a passive collector of horseshoes, I decided one day to attempt to discern the ages of several shoes that I felt were older. I live in the United States. Most shoes in my area aren’t much more than 150-200 years old, with anything older than that a fine treasure, indeed! Ironically, good information about aging the shoes of horses in the United States is very hard to come by. I did, however, find some good articles and even books on horseshoes from Great Britain.
It seems that nail-on horseshoes have been around for centuries—almost a thousand years, even. During that time, changes in shoe-making evolved according to new discoveries in farriery and blacksmithing. It seems that every century or so saw a new style of horseshoe become popular for different reasons, such as altering the shape of the shoe to allow the frog of the hoof to make contact with the ground, adding more nail holes, alterations for traction, or adding an extra piece of metal to the hoof-side to keep the shoe from slipping and falling off. What is wonderful about all of this is that these discoveries and changes were usually documented in advertisements and journals.
I have discovered three great sources, so far, on dating English horseshoes. One is the Museum Of London, who has a website. They took photos of many old shoes and listed them online, along with their estimated dates. It has been enormously useful in testing myself on dating, and to discover possible dates for unusual shoes in my own collection.
Another good source is a book called ‘The Medieval Horse and its Equipment’ from The Museum of London, edited by John Clark
This book has excellent material on dating and categorizing the older shoes that were found in London.
A third excellent source is the Shire Album ‘Old Horseshoes’ by Ivan G. Sparks.
Studying these sources I have learned a little about ancient horseshoes, at least in Great Britain.
With this article, using these sources, I will show off some of the keyhole horseshoes I have in my collection. These shoes were bought from a metal detectorist in Great Britain.
The keyhole shoe tends to be larger and heavier than its predecessors, and the thick branches and heavy heels form sort of a keyhole shape in the center, thus its name. It was mainly used on draft horses. Because the shoe is heavier, it tends to have more nail holes than previous shoes (older shoes tend to have 6 holes, 3 on each branch). Of the 5 keyhole shoes that I have, all of them have 8 holes (4 on each branch).
Notice the concavity. Some blacksmiths tried to shape the shoe to allow the frog of the hoof to have more contact with the ground.As in the shoe above, apparently the calkins on keyhole shoes are a slight turning downwards of the heel. This is to add more grip on the ground surface.
Keyhole shoes also tend to have a concave foot surface. Some have calkins on the heels as well, and some have a fuller (a groove that extends along the branches that the nail holes are in). Mine all have fullers, although some of the fullers are more pronounced than others. Apparently the keyhole shoes from 1700 and onward have a fuller that extends along the whole shoe, heel to toe, while older ones tended to only be fullered along the holes on each branch.
This shoe is fullered all the way around the shoe, so it may be 1700’s or later.
This shoe has a fuller all the way around, and may be from 1700 or later.
This shoe is fullered all the way around, and is probably from 1700 or later.
This shoe’s fuller groove ends at the toe. It does not go all the way around the shoe, which dates it to possibly between 1650-1700
The keyhole shoes were more popular from the mid 1600’s to the 1800’s.
I think one of the reasons I like these shoes so much is because they are so easily recognized by their distinctive shape, which is in sharp contrast to most of the shoes you see today.
I am an avid horseshoe collector, and often find myself in possession of a particularly rusty specimen that has been buried for years, if not centuries. I have tried several methods, with varying results, to remove excess rust so that any distinguishing characteristics are more easily recognized, such as the nails and any maker’s marks. These are a few methods that I have tried so far.
Very old British horseshoes before cleaning. I had to scrape off a LOT of flaky rust and dirt. If I hadn’t, they would shed a lot of grime with just handling them, as some of them had been buried for hundreds of years. Also, rust can be ongoing even after removing them from the ground, and I want to preserve them the best that I can.
Evapo-Rust. This product can be purchased at different hardware stores or auto supply stores. It’s a chemical that you can soak rusty parts in to get them clean. I have used this on my horseshoes and, while I did really like the results, I ended up soaking the shoes for far longer than the directions recommended. I had to soak them for a few hours, scrub them with a hard-bristled steel brush, and soak them again, over and over to achieve the desired results. Granted, if the shoes didn’t have a thick deposit of rust on them the job went very quickly, but for shoes with heavy accumulations of caked-on rust and grime, it was a very tedious process, and the chemical cost me about $25 a gallon. It only takes off so much rust before it needs to be disposed of and replaced, so for a lot of shoes it can be expensive.
This shoe was cleaned with Evapo-Rust. It looks about the same as one with Vinegar. There are a few flakes of fresh rust (the reddish brown. Dark brown is treated) where my Rustoleum didn’t cover well, or where I picked off a tiny chunk of treated rust afterwards, exposing untreated metal. It is important to spray SEVERAL COATS of paint on front and back, and the thin sides as well, to prevent further rust from forming and further damaging your shoe. I will have to put another coat on this one.
White Vinegar. This is my go-to method at the moment. I simply soak the shoes for about 20 minutes or so, scrub them with a steel-bristled brush to remove rust, and soak them some more until they look the way i want. Afterwards I soak them for a short time in water with baking soda in it to neutralize the acids from the vinegar. Be careful not to soak your items for too long in the vinegar, as it will eventually eat away at the metal. I vaguely recall trying this method when i was a child and being very disappointed when my shoes were very, very pitted after having been forgotten for, say, a month or so. It’s ok to soak them for that long if you keep checking on them and scrubbing to help the process, but if you throw them in the vinegar and forget about them forever, the chemical will eat into the metal.
I suspect that this shoe was one that I carelessly soaked in vinegar and forgot about as a child. Notice the excessive pitting and how some of the nail holes are eaten through at the edges. In my area, this shoe isn’t much older than 100-150ish years old. While being buried in different environments might cause this damage, the lack of rust makes me suspect it is from the vinegar accident of my childhood.
Vinegar is cheap and easily obtained. I keep an old covered tote with a gallon of vinegar to soak my shoes in. Afterwards I soak them in water with a little baking soda in it for a few days, to neutralize the vinegar. Then I wash them with soap and water, using a soft scrub brush. I use hot water so they dry quickly, then finish off with a few coats of clear Rustoleum spray paint, which prevents new rust from forming.
A soap water scrub after removing most of the rust.
Whichever method you decide to use, you will want to remove as much dirt and flaky rust as possible beforehand. If the rust is really thick and flaky, I use a thin scraper of some sort to gently pry between the layers. Always wear safety goggles and be careful not to stab yourself with whatever you use. Only pry a tiny bit, as whatever you are trying to pry might be a part of the original metal, and you don’t want to ruin the piece. I merely pick at it and see what flakes off easily. After you have removed some of this surface rust, the chemicals will more easily get to the metal beneath.
Other methods. There are other methods that can be used, such as electrolysis or a grinding wheel. I have not used these methods, but i have shoes that were cleaned using them.
Electrolysis involves soaking the shoes and using electricity. It appears to work extremely well, but involves special equipment.
This shoe was cleaned using electrolysis. I bought it this way. Every bit of rust is gone, and if treated properly with rust-preventive chemicals like Rustoleum, wax, or etc., it will hopefully stay that way.
If using a grinding wheel, you can attach a wire wheel and use that to remove rust. There are also other attachments that can be used to buff the metal. My dad did this with one of my first horseshoes as a child. I worry that this method might damage the surface of the shoe, but on the backside of it I can make out a lot of detail from its original forging, so the scrape marks on the front could be original.
BacksideFront side. This shoe was cleaned with a grinding wheel.
Other Chemicals. You can use Coca Cola or lemon juice in the same way as the vinegar. I haven’t used these methods in years but they do work. Just don’t forget them in the solution!
Bear in mind that whatever method you use to remove the rust, if not treated properly and according to instructions, the rust will come back, sometimes even within minutes of being removed. I honestly don’t mind a little bit of rusty patina and have experimented with giving some of my freshly cleaned shoes a spritz of water and letting them sit for a day or so to get a little of the color before spraying them with clear Rustoleum to stop the process and preserve them. My main goal of cleaning them is to remove the thick rust that obscures detail.
This is an ancient shoe from Great Britain that I created a rusty patina on. It was cleaned with vinegar. Notice that it is very difficult to clean around nails and in nail holes, but cleaning the shoes will expose them enough to identify them better.
I also have a lot of more recent horseshoes that I did not remove the rust from, as it wasn’t as thick and obscuring. I simply clean them well with a wire brush if necessary, and then spray them with several coats of Rustoleum clear paint (the one that specifically stops rust). They still look good and stay protected.
This is the clear spray I use. Be sure to get the one that says ‘STOPS RUST’This donkey (or small mule) shoe didn’t have a thick coat of rust, so I simply treated it with preserving clear paint.
In the end, the most important thing is preservation. Rust eats away at the metal of the shoe, and if not treated properly, it will continue to eat away at them after you find them. Make sure you don’t destroy them by soaking too long, and make sure you prevent further rust corrosion by treating them afterwards. After treating them it is important to store them in a dry environment to make sure the treatment works. I keep my prizes filed in narrow boxes with cardboard in between them, like a file cabinet.
While not very pretty, this storage works for me at the moment until i can find something that suits my tastes better. It has to be strong enough to support the weight of all of my shoes.
Hopefully, with proper care, these shoes will last for generations to come. (You’re welcome, kids! Have fun!)
