Did you know...
...that an early form of hoof protection was seen in ancient Asia, where horses' hooves were wrapped in rawhide, leather or other materials for both therapeutic purposes and protection from wear.
...that the Romans appeared to have attempted to protect their horses' feet with a strap-on, solid-bottomed "hipposandal" that has a slight resemblance to the modern hoof boot.
...that in 1897 four bronze horse shoes with what are apparently nail holes were found in an Etruscan tomb dated around 400 B.C
...that around 1000 AD, cast bronze horseshoes with nail holes became common in Europe. Common was a design with a scalloped outer rim and six nail holes.
Source Wikipedia
From these it has been a long way to the modern horseshoe. Nowadays horseshoes are available in a wide variety of materials, but also styles, developed for different types of horse and for the work they do.
Horseshoes have traditionally been common lucky charms. You can often see them hanging over the entrance of a home. Horseshoes are thought to bring good luck and protection over the centuries. But why people around the world believe in the luck of the humble horseshoe?
"In the Irish story of the blacksmith and the devil, one day a blacksmith was working hard in his shop forging horseshoes. Suddenly, the devil appeared and demanded his own shoes. The blacksmith, recognizing the devil, took a burning hot shoe and nailed it deep into the devil's hooves. After walking away, the devil was in such excruciating pain, he ripped the horseshoes off and swore he would never go near one again. Thus, the tradition of hanging a horseshoe over the entrance of a house to ward off evil spirits was born."
"Another story has more to do with the metal in the horseshoes. Early Western Europeans believed that iron had magical powers. Iron could drive away evil, and folklore of the time told of many malevolent fairies and mystical creatures. Since horseshoes were made of iron, they kept the badly behaving fairies away. Other legends said that witches were so afraid of iron horseshoes, they traveled on broomsticks instead of on horseback."
Source: people.howstuffworks.com
Horseshoes, like many other goods in our daily use, include both: practicality and beauty. Sometimes we just forget about the beauty of them. In a jewellery, the functional beauty can be very delicate, and can you imagine a better good luck charm for yourself than a ring, bracelet, necklace, tiebar or a plastron needle with your own horse´s tail hair? We bet you can´t!
Ring Artema Star. Also available without stones.
In the nannasalmi collection you find many designs with a horseshoe.
Which one would be your favourite lucky charm?
Bracelet Shoe-shoe, ribbon 6 mm
Bracelet Cedric, ribbon 9 mm
Necklace Salinero, ribbon 6 mm
An "everyday good" can become something special. Something fine that brings you good
luck and gives you the possibility to have your horse near you, every day.
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