horse-shoeing tripod (artifact #10)

This tripod, for shoeing horses, belonged to my grandfather, Charles Arthur Doyle, and in turn belonged to my father, Fred Arthur Doyle.  It was passed down to me in recent years when my Father passed on, Thanksgiving Day 1995 at the age of about 86.  The tripod was kept by Grandfather in the harness room, where harness was racked on one wall, in front of the corn crib.  The harness room was also a workroom and storage area for tools.

The tripod was brought outside where the horse was to be shod.  As I remember, the horse’s hoof was placed upon it for the purpose of further clinching horseshoe nails and dressing of the hooves.  As you can see from the photograph it is a sturdy tool.  The memory of this tool has always remained in my mind even without the tool acting as a memory refresher.  Perhaps the reason for this was that Grandfather always placed it on the floor of the workroom, and it was a bold and massive tool to a boy too young to shoe a horse.  The tripod looks the same as when I first saw it over well over 65 years ago and it is very old.

Granddad used this tripod as an anvil to make and repair harness.  The head of the rivet would be placed on the anvil (tripod) with the leather pieces loaded, then a washer would be put on the rivet’s shank, and the rivet would be upset to hold the washer by striking lightly with a small ball-peen hammer.

Charles D. Doyle  5/7/03