Tina Hicks from FE&P brought these over to the Woodson this morning. I’m very grateful! (That’s the Woodson refrigerator at the bottom of the photo.)
The one on the left that’s more U-shaped is clearly a heeled mule shoe; the rounder one on the right might have been used for either a mule or a horse. They were discovered during the site preparation for the Hindman Garden between the back of the chapel and the library.
Many of you no doubt recall my epic three-part series on the campus mules and the location of their sheds way back in 2010. (Here, here and here.) Looking back at those posts, I’m somewhat amazed at how much I’ve managed to learn about these creatures, one drop of information at a time. In any event, it was of course the mules that did all of the pulling and hauling tasks for many decades, there being no golf carts available. And if you look closely at the small map in that first post you’ll see that there was a blacksmith shop among the outbuildings used to house and care for these animals. Surely that’s where the farrier would have shoed the mules.
I looked at this picture several times before I saw the mule pulling the mower (at least I think that’s a mower):
Pulling duties today are typically handled by John Deere (although I think we may have an old blue Ford around as well). For example, here’s a tractor dragging along an aerator on the intramural field this spring:
Bonus: Here’s what happens when you google “mule shoes.” So cute!
Extra Bonus: Summer Hours!!
