The Origins of the Horseshoe in Asia – History of the Horseshoe

Everyone knows what a horse shoe is. They have been decorations, good luck charms, the subject of legends and stories, and of course, protection for horse hooves. For the most part, we’ve just kind of taken for granted that horse shoes exist.

But for such a basic looking piece of metal, it actually has had a long journey to get to this point. Horse shoes didn’t always look the way they do now, and people didn’t used to just nail them directly to the feet of a living creature. 

With my recent experience seeing glue-on shoes, I became really interested in the journey it took to get to this point. How did our horse care evolve since humans first tamed the wild animals they saw roaming?

It turned into a huge rabbit hole, that sometimes felt like it created more questions than answers, and I spent a lot of time unraveling this. I was originally going to make a single post about it, but this topic was so incredible to me, that everything I wanted to say about it just kept growing and growing. Who would have guessed such a seemingly simple device could be so fascinating? 

This is Part 1 of the incredible history of horseshoes. 

Why Horseshoes?

If you know nothing about horses, it might surprise you to know that horses were once wild animals, and there are actually still some wild herds scattered around the world. But 6000 years ago, horses were completely wild until someone looked at a horse, thought it might make a nice friend, and thus the horse was domesticated.

Humans quickly learned a lesson us modern day equestrians still deal with: Horses are fragile and can go lame at the drop of a hat. When the horses were wild and free, their hooves were adapted to how they lived. They traveled miles everyday, usually at a walk, covering a variety of terrain, effectively sanding their hooves into the ideal shape. The hooves evolved to perfectly support their wild life. 

When humans took them into their care, their lifestyles completely changed. Instead of moving freely, they were contained to paddocks and pens. From those soft areas they were then asked to move over harder surfaces, at greater speeds. The hooves could not keep up.

Ancient humans, whose lives were greatly enhanced by the incredible benefits of horses, quickly figured out that it was in their best interested to protect the hooves. 

Ancient Hoof Protection

The earliest known horse shoes were in Asia, made out of grasses, cloth or leather. Since all of those materials are fragile, it has been hard to find actual examples of early horseshoes. The earliest documented proof was in the 5th century BC, when the Greek historian Herodotus wrote his observations about the Scythians. He described how the nomadic people, who lived in what is now Ukraine and southern Russia, wrapped their horse’s hooves in felt to protect them from the hard ground.

In the 4th century BC, a Chinese medical text was written called The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. It covers a wide variety of topics, including acupuncture, herbal medicine and dietetics. It also includes a section on horse care.

According to the text, horses should have their hooves trimmed every three months, with the edges made smooth. Horses should be given daily ointments, made of sesame oil, beeswax and herbs, to keep their hooves healthy. Finally, their hooves can be protected from the elements by wrapping them in cloth or leather. This will help keep them clean and dry, and help prevent cracking. 

Oddly enough, not that far off from how we take care of hooves today. 

There is no direct proof that grass horseshoes were in use, but circumstantial evidence suggest it. Grasses are a common material for making shoes and other objects in Asia, for example, sandals for their own feet. In 1959. archaeologists found a grass horseshoe at the Mawangdui Tombs in Changsha, Hunan province. This tomb dates back to the 2nd century BC. Grass horseshoes definitely existed, but it’s unclear how much they were used. 

In 2006, an archaeological site in the city of Turpan, China was excavated, revealing a number of bronze age artifacts including a horse’s hoof. This hoof had been shod with a horseshoe consisting of a single piece of leather, which was sewn into place with leather thongs. The shoe was dated to 400 BC, one of the earliest known examples of horse shoeing in the world. 

The Terracotta Army

The ancient Chinese people believed the souls of the dead lived in another world. When people died, they would receive a grand funeral, as well as be buried with an assortment of objects thought to assist them in the nether world. Many precious objects were buried with them, but one emperor took it to another level. 

Between 247 and 209 BC, the controversial Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first to unify China under a single ruler, began building the Great Wall, and ruthlessly emphasized, with death, the obedience of all. But he also  build a lovely mausoleum to send himself off to the afterlife. The entire tomb complex covers an area of 2.4 square miles, and its most famous feature is the Terracotta army, thousands of warriors built of fired clay, created to guard the emperor in the next life. 

Among the warriors, there are over 600 terracotta horses, build both for the cavalry and for pulling chariots. The warriors were well equipped for battle, and fittingly, so were their horses. Hoof protectors were found on the feet of the horses. 

According to The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor’s Army written by Maurice Cotterell,  “The hoof protectors were made of iron or bronze and were attached to the horse’s hooves with leather straps or nails. They were designed to protect the horses’ hooves from the rough terrain of the battlefield.”

Although some of the horses were found with nailed on shoes, this isn’t conclusive evidence that this was widely used. The shoes could have been nailed on after being buried, or added for decorative purposes. 

There’s no indication that the use of nailed on shoes was common at that time. In fact, in 81 BC, The Discourses on Salt and Iron (a record of a debate held at the imperial court) mentioned leather shoes. Despite the discussion being about iron, there is no mention of iron horse shoes, which indicates they likely were not used very much, if at all. 

Nail-on horse shoes would not become common in Asia until the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368 BC), which was close to when it would become common across Europe as well. The practice of nailing on shoes didn’t originate in Asia (more on that in a later post), but once people realized the technology, it spread there pretty fast. 

Learn more about horseshoes

The Modern Horseshoe: Glue ons

Who Invented Nail on Horseshoes?

The Horseshoes in the Tomb

The Original Hoof Boots