Tuesday, March 03, 2020

Horseshoe in a rock pile

Reader Colin sent these pictures from northern Westford/Tyngesborough showing a rock pile with a broken horseshoe:


This is much like the example of a rock pile with a broken plow blade (see here). Taking the USET description of rock piles as "Prayers in Stone", let us pause and consider if a prayer might have been involved with leaving these broken farm artifacts inside a rock pile.

3 comments :

pwax said...

The horseshoe is not a complete shoe. Can someone help me interpret what I am seeing in the first picture? What is that extra bit of iron?

Tim MacSweeney said...

I think you mean the "toe caulk" or "toe caulkin" - added for traction, especially in heavy load work conditions, possibly dating it to the late 1800s.

Tim MacSweeney said...

Pronounced "cork" and sometimes spelled like that, as in "cork boots" that loggers wear - a "cleat" to give more traction.