Horseshoe - Catch your luck!
Where did they ever come up with a horseshoe being lucky? Or Better yet, who ever came up with the story that horseshoe is lucky? Growing up on a horse farm, I have been lucky enough to find many. While I always kept them, I never knew exactly what I was supposed to do with them. I would throw them in an old box or in the back of a truck. All I knew was that I was not going to throw them out because I needed all the luck I could get. I suppose eventually someone had to be the person to throw them out, but it wasn’t me.
One night while searching for different things on the internet I thought it would be interesting to find some information about the history of the lucky horseshoe. This was the night I realized why I have been so unlucky.
Different cultures have different beliefs about what makes the horseshoe a symbol of luck. Most cultures believed that in order for the horseshoe to bring luck, it had to be above a doorway and with the end facing north. So that it looked like the letter “U”. If it was to face down it was said that all of the luck would run out. Other believed that the she should been pointing south so that the luck would run out all over you.
One thing that everyone seems to agree on is that it has to be hung in a door way. Years ago, this superstition was started by a blacksmith, a person who put horseshoes onto a horse. The blacksmith said that he used the horseshoe to chase away the devil. This is the reason for hanging it above a doorway, so that the devil can’t come through the door.
Another interesting fact I read about was that the horseshoe was only lucky to the person who found it, and it had to have been worn by their own horse. The main thing I was able to find out was that I may not have been so lucky after all. Most of the shoes I found did belong to one of my own horses. And while some of them may be lying on the bottom of a pile of junk, they may still be lucky. Who knows, they may be facing up or down. I guess it’s up to me to decide which culture I want to go along with. But there is one thing I learned for sure, if I ever find another horseshoe, I’m keeping it! I need all the luck I can get, any way I can get it.