Whether the horses were racing or merely traveling to the local mercantile, there were instances of interference and a need for the diagonal weighted shoe.

“The shoe is very light and was added underneath the foot when they needed a plate that wouldn’t add weight,” says the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame member.

Henry Asmus, the assistant professor of horseshoeing at the Department of Horseshoeing at New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University, described the shoe in “Horseshoes of Interest to Veterinarians” for a state report in 1917-18.

“A shoe for light harness horses to balance their feet when in motion, as some horses show the bottom of the hoof from the side, either one side or the other,” he wrote. “This will reduce the price of the animal in the show ring or in…