Oxen shoe

[fossis]

Found my first Oxen shoe today while walking a road
that was eroded very bad, it was on a hillside.
The soil here is not too kind to metal.

Fossis.............

 

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[VERMONTPACKRAT]

NICE SHOE !!! I have found 3 so far. they vary in size.


VPR

 

[fossis]

NICE SHOE !!! I have found 3 so far. they vary in size.


VPR

I probably walked over a few, before I knew what
they were, years ago.

Fossis............

 

[stefen]

Erik at Blue Ox Mill with oxen

 

[lumbercamp]

The neat ones to find are with the nails still sticking through the other side. But if your soil is that bad they would probably have been rusted off long ago.

 

[fossis]

The neat ones to find are with the nails still sticking through the other side. But if your soil is that bad they would probably have been rusted off long ago.

Probably so, although I find mule & horse shoes
with the nails intact, (but most were later than oxen).

Fossis..............

 

[duggap]

Actually, that is just one half of an ox shoe. If you can find both sides they are worth keeping. Last time I checked they were going for around $30 a pair.

 

[stefen]

Actually, that is just one half of an ox shoe. If you can find both sides they are worth keeping. Last time I checked they were going for around $30 a pair.

Duggap,

Let me add to your advice:

Typically, if a shoe was lost on a trail, road or in a field, it would only be a half because ox feet are cloven, however, having said that, if a pair is found it will most likely be near where it was common to do shoeing...in or near a barn, under a barnyard tree, or someplace soft where an ox can be side-rolled...and so on.

So, if a shoe is found in a field, wooded area or along a road, don't expect to find the other half...

Shoes come off horses and oxen for various reasons...dry, brittle or damaged hoof walls, wall flex, stress on nails, poor nailing techniques, being wedged by rocks or roots, over-stepping and catching the tail of a shoe, mud-sucking, overly worn shoe where nails lose their holding capacity, slipping and sliding...etc

If you happen to find a large number of shoes in one place...you just found the shoeing place...look around and maybe you will find some tools as well...

A lot of information for one small oxen shoe has been generously generated by a number of people which may be the tip of the ox shoe informational iceberg.

As a side bar, today, especially at County fairs, a variation of a large animal vets roll-table is used to strap a cow or steer down so that it can be flipped on its side in order that its hooves can be mechanically ground and dressed for showing purposes. This is also for the purpose of safety of the person doing the dressing as well as the animal. Being cow kicked by any animal can be deadly...and stupid act on the part of the person putting himself in that dangerous position.