Nailed iron horseshoe
Herradura de hierro clavada
- Date
- c. 450 CE · confidence low
- Place
- Gaul and Germania (Celtic area), France / Germany
- Credited to
- Celtic peoples; Roman hipposandals as a precedent
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
U-shaped iron plate nailed to the horse's hoof, protecting it from wear on hard, wet ground. It extended the use of the horse into northern climates and onto paved roads.
The pre-Roman Celtic finds are disputed; the nailed horseshoe is only archaeologically certain from the 5th-6th century CE.
What it led to
- Working and war horses usable in the wet north of Europe
- Mail and trade on horseback along stone roads
- The farrier's trade and rural forges
- Medieval cavalry, with stirrup and horse collar, as a technical package
- viability of the horse in agriculture in the wet north
- heavy cavalry capable of long campaigns
- the farrier's trade and the proliferation of rural forges
Built on
- Early ironworking (bloomery iron)c. 1400 BCE
- Widespread iron smeltingc. 1200 BCE
- Roman hipposandal
- Iron nail
- Roman hipposandals
- iron forging
Made possible
- Roman imperial postal system (cursus publicus)c. 20 BCE
- Paired riding stirrupsc. 300 CE
- Stirrup in Europec. 700
- Rigid horse collarc. 920
- Medieval heavy cavalry
- Farrier's forge
- Rigid horse collar
- Stirrup in Europe