How To Date Horseshoes (Guide)

[Vldetecting]

Iv'e seen many people asking about how to date horseshoes. Many say it is nearly impossible, but I say it's not. So I thought about sharing a little "guide" on how to date horseshoes.


First of all, here is a small guide with pictures & dates for more american horseshoes:

As you can see the older ones are more plain and simple with larger horseshoe-nail holes. They are also very thick compared to the newer ones. Another thing you can look for is the quality of the horseshoe. In 1835 the first horseshoe manufacturing machine was patented in the United States by Henry Burden. And since c. 1850's-60's the horseshoe was mostly manufactured. It means that the more modern horseshoes are more 'perfect' shaped and the more older ones will not be as perfect shaped as the modern ones.

Here is another picture of more older horseshoes with dates:

The older medieval horseshoes are more often found in Europe, and the oldest nail horseshoes ever found is from ca. 10th century. In more modern horseshoes (ca. 16th century to now) there is often eight horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. But in older horseshoes (ca. 10th to 16th century.) there is more often six horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. It means that if you find a six holed horseshoe it will probably be an very old horseshoe and it is probably older than the 17th century. The older horseshoes were also more lightweight and had scalloped outer rims. That's also some useful information.

I hope this information will be useful to you for the next time you find and older horseshoe


And if you want to know a little bit more history behind the horseshoe check out these links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe#History
https://dressagetoday.com/uncategorized/history-of-horseshoes-17802
Horseshoe - History of Horseshoe

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[rgud84]

Found 20 ft under lawn, cleaned off soaked with citric acid and boiling water,

Found this 20 ft under lawn during ripout to replace main lawn, my area had large horse history in 1800s wondering if this could be from this period. I used citric acid and boiling water for three days to get it like this, was covered in dirt and rust

Iv'e seen many people asking about how to date horseshoes. Many say it is nearly impossible, but I say it's not. So I thought about sharing a little "guide" on how to date horseshoes.


First of all, here is a small guide with pictures & dates for more american horseshoes:
View attachment 1565356
As you can see the older ones are more plain and simple with larger horseshoe-nail holes. They are also very thick compared to the newer ones. Another thing you can look for is the quality of the horseshoe. In 1835 the first horseshoe manufacturing machine was patented in the United States by Henry Burden. And since c. 1850's-60's the horseshoe was mostly manufactured. It means that the more modern horseshoes are more 'perfect' shaped and the more older ones will not be as perfect shaped as the modern ones.

Here is another picture of more older horseshoes with dates:
View attachment 1565369
The older medieval horseshoes are more often found in Europe, and the oldest nail horseshoes ever found is from ca. 10th century. In more modern horseshoes (ca. 16th century to now) there is often eight horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. But in older horseshoes (ca. 10th to 16th century.) there is more often six horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. It means that if you find a six holed horseshoe it will probably be an very old horseshoe and it is probably older than the 17th century. The older horseshoes were also more lightweight and had scalloped outer rims. That's also some useful information.

I hope this information will be useful to you for the next time you find and older horseshoe


And if you want to know a little bit more history behind the horseshoe check out these links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe#History
https://dressagetoday.com/uncategorized/history-of-horseshoes-17802
Horseshoe - History of Horseshoe

 

[creskol]

The very old ones are easier to date. .. Most people are asking about Civil War era shoes, which are very difficult to differentiate from modern shoes. Even the old-style shoes are occasionally still being made by blacksmiths.

 

[Escape]

If a particular horse shoe catches your eye, don't be shy. That horse shoe could wind up on the hoof of some other station. Dating horse shoes is not much different than dating women. In fact it's a lot easier in many ways. For one thing there a lot less picky and will put up with most anything. They don't argue or complain either. You just heave to make sure that you nail them real good and they will be with you for the ride where ever it takes you.

 

[Tschaksch]

Hi!
Could you maybe help me identify a horseshoue that my mother found? I hope i successfully attach the photos

 

[Vldetecting]

Hi!
Could you maybe help me identify a horseshoue that my mother found? I hope i successfully attach the photos

Could you please tell me in which country this horseshoe was found? It looks to be quite old (perhaps medieval), but I can't say for sure because I don't know the history of the ground where this item was found.

 

[Tschaksch]

It was found in Slovenia on a construction site in a forest about a meter under ground.
Thank you for your quick reply!

 

[Tschaksch]

If this helps at all we live on grounds that have been settled by the celts and later on romans because we live 10km out of the former celtic/roman city of Celeia and there are also some finds of celtic graveyards about 60m away drom our house all around the hill of which the valley we live in. But i always assumed if was just a horseshoue from some of our farmer ancestors. The city of Celeia now Celje also had the counts of Celje who were quite inportant and the toots of their familys origin even closer to our home so that shows there was quite a lot of life here in the past.
I hope this brief historical account helps you at all. Otherwise we live on the edge of the Savinja valley which has since a long time ago been home to farmers and till a century ago or so hop growers.
If any other information helps you i would be happy to help.

 

[Vldetecting]

If this helps at all we live on grounds that have been settled by the celts and later on romans because we live 10km out of the former celtic/roman city of Celeia and there are also some finds of celtic graveyards about 60m away drom our house all around the hill of which the valley we live in. But i always assumed if was just a horseshoue from some of our farmer ancestors. The city of Celeia now Celje also had the counts of Celje who were quite inportant and the toots of their familys origin even closer to our home so that shows there was quite a lot of life here in the past.
I hope this brief historical account helps you at all. Otherwise we live on the edge of the Savinja valley which has since a long time ago been home to farmers and till a century ago or so hop growers.
If any other information helps you i would be happy to help.

Horseshoes that we know of today were invented in the viking age and came to use more in the later viking period. I believe that your horseshoe could in fact be very old. I can't really put an exact date on your horseshoe but if I'd have to guess I would say that it is from ca 1000 to ca 1500 A.D. So it would be around five hundred to a thousand years old. You should keep on to the horseshoe because it is an old local piece of history. The fact that you found it one meter below ground strengthens my theory about the age of the find. Don't sell it or hang it up on a wall or anything similar. What I would do with it is put it in a place where no sun can shine and no where no humidity can reach.

 

[Tschaksch]

Im sory for the quite late reply and im realy thankful for your help and am now realy happy and proud to have a piece of history in possesion. Will definatly charish it!

 

[Ddh]

I found it in lake superior in the water it had rusted a lot but had the nail head in it was wondering if a horse fell through the ice or something

 

[MTMB]

Iv'e seen many people asking about how to date horseshoes. Many say it is nearly impossible, but I say it's not. So I thought about sharing a little "guide" on how to date horseshoes.


First of all, here is a small guide with pictures & dates for more american horseshoes:
View attachment 1565356
As you can see the older ones are more plain and simple with larger horseshoe-nail holes. They are also very thick compared to the newer ones. Another thing you can look for is the quality of the horseshoe. In 1835 the first horseshoe manufacturing machine was patented in the United States by Henry Burden. And since c. 1850's-60's the horseshoe was mostly manufactured. It means that the more modern horseshoes are more 'perfect' shaped and the more older ones will not be as perfect shaped as the modern ones.

Here is another picture of more older horseshoes with dates:
View attachment 1565369
The older medieval horseshoes are more often found in Europe, and the oldest nail horseshoes ever found is from ca. 10th century. In more modern horseshoes (ca. 16th century to now) there is often eight horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. But in older horseshoes (ca. 10th to 16th century.) there is more often six horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. It means that if you find a six holed horseshoe it will probably be an very old horseshoe and it is probably older than the 17th century. The older horseshoes were also more lightweight and had scalloped outer rims. That's also some useful information.

I hope this information will be useful to you for the next time you find and older horseshoe


And if you want to know a little bit more history behind the horseshoe check out these links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe#History
https://dressagetoday.com/uncategorized/history-of-horseshoes-17802
Horseshoe - History of Horseshoes.

Iv'e seen many people asking about how to date horseshoes. Many say it is nearly impossible, but I say it's not. So I thought about sharing a little "guide" on how to date horseshoes.


First of all, here is a small guide with pictures & dates for more american horseshoes:
View attachment 1565356
As you can see the older ones are more plain and simple with larger horseshoe-nail holes. They are also very thick compared to the newer ones. Another thing you can look for is the quality of the horseshoe. In 1835 the first horseshoe manufacturing machine was patented in the United States by Henry Burden. And since c. 1850's-60's the horseshoe was mostly manufactured. It means that the more modern horseshoes are more 'perfect' shaped and the more older ones will not be as perfect shaped as the modern ones.

Here is another picture of more older horseshoes with dates:
View attachment 1565369
The older medieval horseshoes are more often found in Europe, and the oldest nail horseshoes ever found is from ca. 10th century. In more modern horseshoes (ca. 16th century to now) there is often eight horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. But in older horseshoes (ca. 10th to 16th century.) there is more often six horseshoe-nail holes in the horseshoe. It means that if you find a six holed horseshoe it will probably be an very old horseshoe and it is probably older than the 17th century. The older horseshoes were also more lightweight and had scalloped outer rims. That's also some useful information.

I hope this information will be useful to you for the next time you find and older horseshoe


And if you want to know a little bit more history behind the horseshoe check out these links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe#History
https://dressagetoday.com/uncategorized/history-of-horseshoes-17802
Horseshoe - History of Horseshoe

Hi there! I am researching early eighteenth century horseshoes for a historical fiction novel I am working on. One of my historical characters in 1717 was said to be so strong he, "could bend a horseshoe with his hand." Do you have any sense if those historical horseshoes would have bent? I'm reading conflicting information that horseshoes from that time where "cast iron" or "iron". Any help would be appreciate, thanks!