Shoes for oxen are crescent shaped to fit each half of the divided hoof.  My
father did farm work with horses, and I never did see a round horseshoe,
although I did see some that had a bar across the normally open end of the
shoe.
Connie Adkins
----- Original Message -----
From: "Margaret Green" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: Round Horseshoes


>   The following is from 2 private responses I made. Thought maybe
> I should post it to the list:-)
>   Call the large animal hospital of a veterinary school and ask to
> talk to their farrier. I think I've seen round horseshoes when New
> Bolton Center (University of Pennsylvania) had open house a while
> ago. They have a farrier shop and staff blacksmith(s). Their
> farrier's job is orthopedic horseshoes and he's probably studied
> horseshoes intensively. This is the main page of the site but the
> phone number is for the school itself and/or small animal hospital
> in Philadelphia (215 area code, doesn't get you New Bolton
> Center).
> http://flipper.vet.upenn.edu/NewBoltonCenter/
> This gives the New Bolton Center phone number 610-444-4800
> http://www.vet.upenn.edu/HospitalsAndServices/Widener/Appointments.cfm
>   I do think some people use round ones for quoits, some people
> use regular U shape for the game. They probably kept a pile of
> old, discarded, horseshoes sitting on a shelf in the barn to use
> for the game.
>   I'm probably wrong (check with the farrier) but I think there
> are times round ones may be used on horses and somewhere back in
> the cobwebs of the brain I think oxen
> use round ones but I'm not sure of either idea.
>   I was looking for a URL for an artist blacksmith association for
> myself and ran into this site for the American Farriers
> Association.
> http://www.amfarriers.com/
> They might be able to tell you about round horseshoes.
>   Extraneous information: Farriers are blacksmiths but not all
> blacksmiths are farriers. My father worked for Samuel Yellin, who
> did wonderful ironwork - gates, grills, lamps, tables, etc. (one
> example - the ironwork, National Cathedral, Washington, DC) Most
> artist blacksmiths probably don't know the first thing about
> shoeing horses, although there are a couple of farriers who are
> members of PABA (Pa. Artists Blacksmiths Association). The
> colonial blacksmith was the most important craftsman. He made the
> tools that the other craftsmen used, along with many of the
> household items from hinges to cooking pots.
> Marge Green
>