fivepak, You asked about the age of your pony shoe. I remember that after WWII Shetland ponies became a fad item, times were good, people had extra money, and they were buying those ponies for big bucks. That might have lasted 10 years, I don't remember, but I remember the stage coach was around the end of the Shetland popularity, and that was 1958 or 59. When everyone that wanted a pony got one, the bottom went out of the prices, and some people that were heavily invested really took it in the shorts. I remember one place whose white board fences and irrigated pasture went to pot, basically weeds and splinters. Those ponies really never have gained back their popularity, so my swag on the age of the shoe would be sometime in the late '40's through the 50's. Another thing, unless they were being used for something special, like pulling a miniature stage coach, ponies were never used to the point they really needed shoes, and that holds for the latest fad, the miniature horse, I don't think that even little kids ride those, so for the most part those horses don't get used enough, if at all, to require shoeing. Usually they need to have their feet trimmed because the lack of use doesn't keep the hoof growth wore down, and the excess hoof wall needs to be cut off. That's about as close as I can come up with a date on your shoe.
