Share what you know about the tradition of a horseshoe over a door.
Should it be over the door, or on the door? What is the legendary difference?
Do you need one over every exterior door to get the full benefit? 
Just a web photo for illustration, not from anywhere I know ā¦
Heels up keeps the luck in your home while heels down lets the flow over everything, so itās a toss. The blacksmiths that I know keep the heels down in their shops and heels up in their homes.
It has been a tradition of SO and mine to put a (used) horse shoe in all our vehicles as little good luck charms.
All I can tell you is, the ONE day SO took the shoe out to clean and forgot to put it back in, we got rear-ended by a work van while doing errands.
Oh man that is awful.
Iāve got to get horseshoes in my car, then. If Iād thought to do that earlier, I could have avoided that guy who backed up into my car.
Iāll probably put two horseshoes in there, so that if I need to take one out, itās ok if I donāt remember to put it back. Since Iām not always good at remembering things like that.
Is it good to have two, one up, one down? Or does that cancel them out? 
Hereās my sister sitting on a pile of horseshoes my husband has made over the years. Probably the luckiest spot on the property. Lol
When I was farmhunting I kissed a half dozen toads before coming to this place.
It had 10ac total & foolishly, Citygirl Me only took 5 
Hindsight: 20/20
Not a horse property, what are now my pastures had been leased to a farmer for corn/soybeans.
But itās been enough & Serendipity?
There was a Draft-size horseshoe hung heels up between the garage doors.
20yrs later, itās still there.
Oakham Castle, in Oakham, Rutland, England, has a large collection of horseshoes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakham_Castle#The_horseshoes
All that remains of the original, 12th century, castle is the great hall.
There is a longstanding tradition that any āpeer of the realmā visiting Oakham should āforfeit a horseshoe to the Lord of the Manor of Oakham on their first visit to the town.ā
230 horseshoes are hung on the wall of the castle. Some are very ornate, and never came close to a horseās foot. While the tradition goes back further, the oldest surviving horsehoe was presented by Edward IV in 1470. More recently horseshoes have been presented by the Princess Royal (Princess Anne) in 1999, the Prince of Wales (now Charles III) in 2003, Princess Alexandra (first cousin of Elizabeth II) in 2005, the Duchess of Cornwall (now queen Camilla) in 2014, and the Duke (Prince Edward- Queen Elizabethās youngest son) and Duchess of Edinburgh in 2024.
The horseshoes are all hung āheels downā.
I have a shoe from my heart horse, but itās propped above my windows instead of a door. Heels up.
Shoes at our barn are hung heels-down because husband is a Farrier. A Farrier legend has the Devil visiting the Farrierās shop and wanting shoes for his hooves. Farrier hot shod him so the Devil ran away and wonāt approach the Farrierās Shop with the heel-down shoe sign sign in front!
This sign is from the days when a business sign outside showed what kind of shop it was, needle and thread was a tailor, teapot sold tea, etc. Many people could not read so pictures on signs were used to draw in customers.
Among Farriers was the added bit of information that non-Farriers hanging shoes heels-down would cause the luck to run out and be lost. And not being Farriers, the people would not be able to threaten the Devil with hot shoes should he turn up!!
I never heard about shoes hung heels-down to let good luck flow around!
These are by the tack room. Copper ābride horse shoesā made for a horse who was in the wedding party, spare pair in case horse lost one. The other two are Damascus steel, made as metal working exercises in blacksmithing, though they could be used on an equine. Surrounded by horse brasses (harness decorations for good luck) we have collected over the years.
Thanks for the castle link with shoes!
I learned the heels down story when I was in the UK with the American Farrierās Team with DH who was competing at the time. The farriers that told me that story said they only did heels down in the shop, heels up in the home.
A piece of lore I heard from my farrier after we put down my grey mare was that shoes from horses that have passed on go up with three copper nails. Iām not sure why, but I thought it was kind of a neat thing.
He got me set up with the nails for her shoes and polished everything up. I had them above the stalls for a bit (heels up!) but pulled everything when I refinished the barn. Need to get them again.
Iāve never heard that but I really like it. 
The lucky horseshoe goes over a door or on a stable aways heels up - so the luck canāt drain away. In heraldry, e. g. on a coat of arms, the heels are always down.
Itās dark put now or Iād take a pic.
I have wind chimes a friend made from shoes worn by my dearly loved TB & DHās equally valued TWH 
I can tell TBās by the toe clips, Walkerās are nearly round.
ETA this morningās pics 
Very interesting! Thinking of where I can get some copper nails ā Lowes, right?
I have no idea, but ā¦
ā¦ a lot of medieval-style legends with things like nails and threes are symbolicly about the crucifixion of Christ. Three is the triune nature of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (and yes this is all supposed to be one thought or idea, in three ā itās a challenge to get oneās head around). Also the crucifixion itself had three, Christ and the two thieves, with a lot of art depicting three silhouette crosses.
I wouldnāt be surprised if the three copper nails must be driven in with three hammer strokes each, (trigger warning) representing the nails driven through Christs hands and feet (or ankles). One nail for each hand, and one nail through both feet (or ankles or legs) on the downward arm of the cross.
Numbers are hugely symbolic in Christianity. For mostly illiterate ordinary Christians in their daily lives in those times, knowing the symbols told a story, became reminders, .
Many decorative crosses with patterns originally referencing art from that period and later have symbolic clusters of three around each end of the cross. As there are four ends, with three at each end, the total adds to the highly referential number 12, found in both the Old and New Testaments. 12 tribes of Israel. 12 disciples of Christ.
So things in threes are rife in artistic Christian artifacts. In certain times and places, these symbols were represented as often as possible. Horseshoes and nails would be a golden opportunity for yet another symbolic reminder. It has always happily been very common to mix Christianity with local superstition. 
Copper (covered) horse shoe nails your farrier can hook you up.
Thatās a very old belief. Pliny the Elder advocated three nails in the lintel above the door for luck in a triangle shape and in pre-christian germany they put them in the hearth. Irish people have made amulets for children from horseshoe nails for centuries (I have one) and brides in France went through a phase of rings made of bent horse shoe nails. A lot of it had to do with the belief that iron (and Iām sure other metals other places) kept you safe from the supernatural. And of course dipping the nails in spring water is necessary to make the magic work.
Lucky horseshoes only work if you find them btw, canāt be bought or gifted. Itās an Irish superstition. So get out there on the trails and start looking.
Pastures are a good place for finding horseshoes. We regularly turn up old shoes that never came off any of our horses! We have been here for many years, have worked up the fields, mowed, dragged, so you would THINK we had cleared out all the metal.
Nope, husband turned up a shoe with heel caulks, probably a size one, common on multi-use farm horses in the 1950s and earlier, a week ago beside the swale hole. We used to hang them on the old pear tree until it died after a yard remodel putting a new sepic system.
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