Finding a horseshoe
Finding a horseshoe was a fortunate sign in old England, and many London thresholds had one nailed on, ideally a shoe someone had found. A shoe in the dirt has finished one job, which hints that things in your past may have a second use.
What it may mean
Every horseshoe you find has already done its job. It was shaped for one hoof, nailed on, worn down over weeks of work and then thrown or pulled off, its usefulness to the horse over. People have given such shoes a second career for centuries, as door charms, garden ornaments and keepsakes, and John Aubrey insisted that the charm should be a horseshoe that one finds. A horseshoe in the dirt can set you thinking about second purposes: a skill from an old job that fits a new one, a friendship that has changed shape but still matters, the piece of your past that could hold something up today. Being finished with one task does not mean being finished.
Depending on how you saw it
A thrown shoe on a muddy trail
Horses most often lose shoes in deep mud or on rough ground, where the hoof sucks free and the shoe stays behind. What did you shed during your last hard stretch that you would not have let go of on easy ground?
An old shoe dug up in the garden
Rusted shoes turn up in gardens and fields that have not seen a horse in generations. Iron lasts, and the ground keeps a record of the work done on it. What history lies under the place where you live or work, and do you know any of it?
A shoe with the nails still in it
A horseshoe found with its nails still bent through it came off suddenly, before anyone could remove it properly. Endings are not always neat. What ended abruptly for you that you could finally lay to rest?
A worn shoe thin at the toe
A shoe worn thin at the front shows how a horse moved, how far it went and which way it leaned. Wear patterns are honest records. What would the wear on your own habits say about how you have been moving lately?
Why it happens in nature
A horseshoe is a strip of steel, or sometimes aluminum, nailed to the hard outer wall of the hoof, which has no feeling. Farriers reset or replace shoes every six to eight weeks as the hoof grows, and horses sometimes pull a shoe off in deep mud or on rough ground. Old iron shoes rust slowly and can turn up long after the horses are gone.
What folk beliefs say
England
Robert Boyle wrote in 1665 that the common people of England held it a lucky thing to find a horseshoe, and admitted that he had stooped to pick one up himself, if only to make fun of the idea.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 251. View the page
England (London)
John Aubrey, quoted by Brand, noted that most houses in the west end of London had a horseshoe nailed on the threshold against witchcraft, and that it should be a horseshoe that one finds.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 16. View the page
England
Admiral Nelson had great faith in the horseshoe, and one was nailed to the mast of his ship, the Victory.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1290 (file v 3). View the page
To reflect on
Which piece of your past has finished one job and could take on another?