How old is this horseshoe

[CivilWarSaver]

If you don't know me, I am the 13 year old kid on Treasure net, I have been posting a lot about my grandparents civil war house because I metal detect there every single day after school I found this item in the woods were the soldiers ran away. This is one of four halfs of horseshoes I have found on the property.

 

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[CivilWarSaver]

I have also found more rectangle shaped nails around it. Also there are still more I haven't dug around it because I realized I was digging right next to a dead raccoon

 

[creskol]

Dating horseshoes is darn near impossible.

 

[CivilWarSaver]

Dating horseshoes is darn near impossible.

Would it be better if I got the rust off?

 

[Tpmetal]

Would it be better if I got the rust off?

The problem is that you can only get broad date ranges, even then it's not always accurate. Horse shoes were hand made for each horse. Different people had different techniques. So styles and shoes varied greatly, usually making it hard to pin down dates.

 

[vpnavy]

I pulled this from another TN thread - this is just one of the replies in the thread...

Solved: How do you date horseshoes? (Feb 27, 2012, 11:30 AM)​

The information that was provided was found in the book: Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume. (Don't shoot the messenger-call the author!) As noted, dating horseshoes is difficult at best. As with any hand-made item, the maker has the liberty to make it as he/she wishes. A current gunmaker could easily produce a flintlock rifle with all the early fixtures, but it obviously would not be old. Same thing with an ancient spear/arrow point. All one can do is go with the professional studies that have been documented and make your best guess.

 

[villagenut]

You got something against dead raccoons?could be something good underneath him.

 

[Spats]

cut raccoon in serving sized pieces, carefully remove ALL fat, care must be taken in this step, be thorough.
put in cooking vessel and cover meat with water, add cut up celery, onion, and salt, cover and boil until tender, about 30 minutes
remove meat from stock and drain well
saute in frying pan with butter and olive oil on low heat so th emeat doesn't get hard and crusty.
if desired the stock can be used to make a sauce or gravy

 

[BosnMate]

Would it be better if I got the rust off?

Not really. Doesn't make much difference. Hand made horse shoes are still used today, not as often as in the past, but nothing about a horses' foot has changed in a thousand years, and the need for shoes on horses has existed since the first man figured out how to ride a horse.

 

[BosnMate]

On the chart posted by VP Navy, shoe number 8 is a mule shoe, and I have nailed on lots of those shoes when I was younger and dumber. 5, 6, and 7 are corrective shoes, and if the horse needs that style of shoe, a good farrier will make one today. I've built shoes just like number 1 for the back feet of a show horse that the owner wanted to have the horse slide to a stop. Almost impossible to date a horse shoe unless it's found with something that you can date. Your find was left on the horse way to long, and the shoe wore in two at the toe. Either that, or they were in very rocky ground that caused it to wear faster than normal. Your shoe has also been cut off square at the heel, which isn't the normal way it's usually done, so I would suspect it was either for a back foot on a small horse or pony, or possibly a small donkey or a smaller size mule.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Around here in the older fields we find Oxen shoes, i keep some of those .
Gary

 

[CivilWarSaver]

On the chart posted by VP Navy, shoe number 8 is a mule shoe, and I have nailed on lots of those shoes when I was younger and dumber. 5, 6, and 7 are corrective shoes, and if the horse needs that style of shoe, a good farrier will make one today. I've built shoes just like number 1 for the back feet of a show horse that the owner wanted to have the horse slide to a stop. Almost impossible to date a horse shoe unless it's found with something that you can date. Your find was left on the horse way to long, and the shoe wore in two at the toe. Either that, or they were in very rocky ground that caused it to wear faster than normal. Your shoe has also been cut off square at the heel, which isn't the normal way it's usually done, so I would suspect it was either for a back foot on a small horse or pony, or possibly a small donkey or a smaller size mule.

I'm guessing it's a CW horseshoe because right were I dug it was were there was a huge CW Calvary camp

 

[CivilWarSaver]

Bump

 

[CivilWarSaver]

cut raccoon in serving sized pieces, carefully remove ALL fat, care must be taken in this step, be thorough.
put in cooking vessel and cover meat with water, add cut up celery, onion, and salt, cover and boil until tender, about 30 minutes
remove meat from stock and drain well
saute in frying pan with butter and olive oil on low heat so th emeat doesn't get hard and crusty.
if desired the stock can be used to make a sauce or gravy

Haha!

I'm not sure if I could do that. It's the time of year they get sicknesses