Introduction to the Equestrian Horse Shoe Collection

The practice of shoeing horses appears to date back to the La Tene culture in northern France, Austria and Germany. They were probably invented by the Celts and by the first millennium BC they were more common. The Romans shod their horses with hipposandles, ungainly objects that would have been usable only at a walk. Shoes recorded in paintings clearly show the nails. They may have been a status symbol.

Unshod horses’ feet suffer on rough and hard ground, but hooves will harden from concussion. American mustangs have the hardest feet imaginable and are seldom in need of shoeing. Constant shoeing does break up feet and soften them. Rather in the same way we find it painful to walk barefoot until acclimatized. Mules have very tough feet as do donkeys.

Louise Firouz a famous breeder of Turkoman and Caspian horses traveled across north eastern Iran on horseback for over a quarter of a century and her horses were only shod in front.