First Old Horseshoe.....

[Garrett424]

So I got off work and stopped by a farmer friend's place to get some tomatoes. He has THE BEST around and he charges about half of what everyone else if getting. He also throws in a few extras which is cool.

Better yet, he also knows I treasure hunt and gave me permission to hunt a HUGE hay field. I didn't even ask he just brought it up. It's at least 15 acres and it's never been built on; only farmed. The grass was pretty short considering.

It's pretty clean so far. I walked around for almost a half hour and didn't get a single hit.
Then, I got a nice high, deep hit. I figured it was probably trash but of course, I dug it anyway 'cause you never really know until you know.

I got down about 8 inches and saw the end of one half sticking out. The rest was deeper. I pulled it out, re checked the hole and it was still ringing. Beneath the first half awaited the other half. That was at least a foot down.



This is my first actual real horseshoe. It still has pieces of nails in it.
I dug up one a while back but that one was a pitchin' shoe so I'm not counting it.

I was running my disc at about 11:00 and had this one not been so highly oxidized I'm sure I would have passed right over it.

I have no clue how old it is but I would guess that it came off of a work horse a very long time ago. This isn't a location where anyone would just ride. I can just picture a horse pulling a plow or some other piece of old time farm equipment.

So, does anyone know how long a horseshoe needs to be in the ground to rust into two pieces??

Other than a bit of trash, that's pretty much it for today. I ran out of daylight again.
These days are just getting too short.

Thanks for looking and HH.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[dieselram94]

Nice find, I still enjoy finding those. Maybe it didn't rust into two pieces. Maybe it was worn thin in the area of the break and then a plow or some other implement struck it and broke it.

sent from a potato...

 

[Garrett424]

Nice find, I still enjoy finding those. Maybe it didn't rust into two pieces. Maybe it was worn thin in the area of the break and then a plow or some other implement struck it and broke it.

sent from a potato...

Good point.
Either way, it's been a long time since horses were used to farm around here.
I didn't find much today but at least it's something different. I like to imagine the stories and people behind this old stuff and this case, the animals as well.

When I get a few hours or a day to kill I want to hit this field again. I can go any time I want and it's only about ten minutes from work. Targets are few and far between so far but you never know. It could take years to properly hunt such a huge area. If it's been worked for a few centuries there may be some good stuff lying below.

I've never hunted farm fields before but I've seen some really nice finds here from similar spots.

 

[dieselram94]

If it's been farmed that long chances are very good some good stuff is there. Keep us posted. Maybe you'll find more horse shoes or even an ox shoe.

sent from a potato...

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[Limitool]

Hey buddy.... From one horseshoe finder to another Congrats..... I've found MANY shoes here on this old wagon trail behind my home here in TN. And I've mostly found 1/2 shoes and many of them have the original nails within them. Maybe some of mine are oxen shoes (split hooves 2-shoes) but I think many / most are horseshoes. Hard to tell how old they are.... but if you get smarter than me PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

 

[dieselram94]

All but one looks to be horse shoes. The other one "probably" is as well. I just can't see it well enough...

sent from a potato...

 

[Hendo0601]

I found my first horseshoes last week! 2 in the same day, about 10 feet from each other. One big one and one small one, both about a foot down. I was super excited when I saw the edge in the hold and I said out loud "please be a horseshoe!" And boom! They aren't valuable or rare by any means, but to think about the age and history of them makes them the coolest in my book. Congrats on yours!!!!

 

[bootybandit]

Congrats on the 1st!

 

[Garrett424]

Hey buddy.... From one horseshoe finder to another Congrats..... I've found MANY shoes here on this old wagon trail behind my home here in TN. And I've mostly found 1/2 shoes and many of them have the original nails within them. Maybe some of mine are oxen shoes (split hooves 2-shoes) but I think many / most are horseshoes. Hard to tell how old they are.... but if you get smarter than me PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Dude, you have quite a collection going on there.

So I guess I'm lucky to have found both halves so close together based on what you said. I was kinda' disappointed I didn't find anything cooler but that hunts' getting better thanks to all the great folks of Treasurenet.
Thanks to all.



Oh, and I know SQUAT about horseshoes. Sorry. You're guess is as good as mine. All I know is that I like to imagine the history, such as the poor guy (or girl) who was probably really aggravated the horse threw a shoe. It was probably during a busy work day and the last thing they needed to happen.

BTW, my Dad built our house in 1956 when he was 27. There was once an actual blacksmith's shop where the front yard is now that was still standing when he started building. I've never hunted it because it's my brothers' house now. Maybe I'll have to see what I can dig up there at some point.

 

[dieselram94]

So I guess I'm lucky to have found both halves so close together based on what you said. I was kinda' disappointed I didn't find anything cooler but that hunts' getting better thanks to all the great folks of Treasurenet.
Thanks to all.



Oh, and I know SQUAT about horseshoes. Sorry. You're guess is as good as mine. All I know is that I like to imagine the history, such the poor guy (or girl) who was probably really aggravated his horse threw a shoe.

BTW, my Dad built our house in 1956 when he was 27. There was once an actual blacksmith's shop where the front yard is now that was still standing when he started building. I've never hunted it because it's my brothers' house. Maybe I'll have to see what I can dig up there at some point.

I think there was an old blacksmith shop on my land as well. At the very least it was a farm about 180 years ago. It keeps giving up cool finds! I know your site will also!

sent from a potato...

 

[Mr.T]

Hi-

You should turn your picture the other way up- for luck. Especially if you hang it somewhere!

 

[stefen]

Hey buddy.... From one horseshoe finder to another Congrats..... I've found MANY shoes here on this old wagon trail behind my home here in TN. And I've mostly found 1/2 shoes and many of them have the original nails within them. Maybe some of mine are oxen shoes (split hooves 2-shoes) but I think many / most are horseshoes. Hard to tell how old they are.... but if you get smarter than me PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

In my opinion all shoe shown are Ox shoes...not horse shoes...

 

[dieselram94]

In my opinion all shoe shown are Ox shoes...not horse shoes...

They look to long and to narrow...at least to me on this potato

sent from a potato...

 

[DFX DAVE in M.D.]

Hey Garret we got some great Maryland Tomatoes here, but we got some awesome Maryland Silverqueen Corn also. White corn and mixed yellow and white, they call it bi-color, lol. We live near the Pennsylvania border and buy Amish Corn also, but not on Sundays, they won't sell then, lol.

 

[Garrett424]

Hi-

You should turn your picture the other way up- for luck. Especially if you hang it somewhere!

You're right.
What was I thinkin'

 

[Garrett424]

Hey Garret we got some great Maryland Tomatoes here, but we got some awesome Maryland Silverqueen Corn also. White corn and mixed yellow and white, they call it bi-color, lol. We live near the Pennsylvania border and buy Amish Corn also, but not on Sundays, they won't sell then, lol.

Yeah, Maryland does have great corn and tomaters'.

I had 4 plants growing where I work but the deer ate them down to the ground before I could pick a single one. They're a menace around here. There are just way too many of them and they literally destroy all kinds of crops.That's why I've been getting them from my friends.

I know several farmers who get special bow permits from the state during the summer and allow people to come in and thin them out.

But I don't ever buy tomatoes from the grocery store. They may look pretty but they have NO taste at all. Plus, they're like, 4 bucks a pound. That's insane. When you get used to the real MD tomatoes nothing else even comes close.

So I eat the heck out of 'em all summer right up to the first frost. After that, no tomatoes until July unless it comes in sauce.
I appreciate them more that way as well.
Unfortunately, the first frost isn't too far off.

 

[DFX DAVE in M.D.]

I forgot to call it Silverqueen Sweet Corn, I left the sweet part out, we call that bland yellow corn, horse corn, lol. On the Eastern Shore of Maryland we have miles of corn being grown, unfortunatley they say the run off from the farmers fields is the reason the Chesapeake Bay is polluted. We have tons of deer here also, herds of over 100 can be seen driving south down route 213, in the fall after the fields are cut down, we have a few white deer running around also. I have never hunted, but if I did, I would be outside a woods edge before sunset, the deer come out of the woods to eat the green grass that does not grow in the forest areas. And yes grocery store tomatoes are called hot house tomates, not the same as grown outdoors, they dont even look red, they look orange.

 

[Moresound]

Lettuce, tomato and cucumber samwiches all summer long!

 

[dieselram94]

Just be glad your not up here in Maine. I've had a frost for the last few nights[emoji45]

sent from a potato...