Dating horseshoes?

[BamaBill]

Are there any resources out there for determining the age of horseshoes? I just started hunting an area that was a mid 1800's campground and found a horseshoe. Need to see if there is any way to determine if this might have been part of the campground area, based on the age of the shoe.

 

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[stefen]

There may be a possibility to date a shoe by the steel compound...

 

[txkickergirl]

i also think that they changed shape a little over the years, and went from different hand forged with nails(the nail style probably being a key) to what we have today.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

http://www.jacksoncountyhorseshoeclub.org/hillsdale/antique1.htm

 

[stefen]

Most of the horseshoes shown on the Jackson site are for competitive horeshoe throwing as opposed to shoes used for shod horses.

As for the shape, horseshoes are still the same shape unless, of course, horse hooves have evolved into another unique shape...the appearance of the shoe is reflective of the leg, gait or hoof correction itself, and again of course, the unique craftsmanship of the ferrier.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Well, I'd recommend woman, but hey, that's me. Open the doors for them, act like you are listening, and truly care, and always, always call two days after the first date. Or, you might try some sites that sell farm antiques. If you are in a club, ask around. I'm a member of the "Eureka " club in Denver, and I know that there is a guy there that is knowledgeable in that field.

 

[BamaBill]

Wish I was in a club, but N. Bama is a sad state of affairs. The only club broke up because nobody trusted anybody and I heard that there were a couple of "bad eggs", jumping peoples sites and doing other despicable things. The nearest club is downstate in Birmingham and its a bit of a haul to be going to a meeting.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Can you make a scan of the shoe? When I hit our meeting this week, I'll see if I can find the person that is knows about horseshoes, and have him check out your post. If I was you, I'd assume that it's very old, and just keep detecting that site.
CurbdiggerCarl

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

It's really hard to put an age on a horse shoe, the best indication is the nail. The nail can be dated. The hand punched hole (instead of the more modern drilled) will have more of a bump aroud the nail hole. Not much help, but can you get a close up of the actual hole the nail goes in?

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost;
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 

[Mineo26]

Hi i was wondering if anybody could give me any info on this horse shoe i found about 3' in the ground in my back yard? I uploaded some pictures on my web page. thanks http://home.comcast.net/~mungoman/site/

 

[trailrider0491]

Well the problem with dating a horse shoe is on older shoes there is no stamping of any kind to identify it with and as some on here has posted the newer shows are all machine forged and pretty much all look the same. However there are a lot of folks even today makes there own shows by the old blacksmith design. In fact I just had two horses showed this past week with shoes that was made on site from barstock and forged to fit the horse. They do look a lot different than to days buy off the shelf shoe. However if it was laying beside one that was made 100 years ago you could not tell it. They are made the same way with the same tools. In fact the folks that shoe my horses is the Heartland Horseshoeing School in Missouri. And part of there school is old fashion black smiting. You may be able to contact them and ask them for more information but it is going to be hard to do. I have seen thousands of shoes over my 50 years of riding horses. And unless it is a prodution run off the shelf of one of the common name brand now days which will be stamped on the shoe. it will be hard to tell.

 

[Kampnhuntr]

I recently found a couple of horse shoes, when the Farrier came to shoe my brothers horse (staying by us) I asked him & he said they were from mules & even told us what foot it would have come off of by the wear on it. Interesting, weather he was BS'n us or not don't know. He has been shoeing my brothers horse for a few years & has always been straight up with everything.

Maybe checking with a local farrier or blacksmith as trailrider0491 said would be a good idea.