Legend has it that hanging a horseshoe in your home can help you quickly bring good luck to you. While I don’t really believe in luck, signs and mythical legends, I do believe in having a positive visual around you at all times. The item itself cannot bring you luck, however, your good thoughts about the item and what it represents can bring more positivity and joy into your life.
I recently found some horseshoes that belonged to my grandparents. I don’t know the story behind the shoes, but I do remember them hanging in their home above the back door for many years. They were stamped with their names, Rocky and Carol.
My grandparents served a huge, positive role in my life. They were there for me no matter what, so I knew that I had to find a way to incorporate these into my home decor. I felt doing so could help bring the positive memories of the wonderful times I had with them to the forefront of my mind (they have both passed away) and the whole concept of a good luck visual can’t ever hurt to have around.
I first started wrapping the shoes with various colors of embroidery thread. While this was a nice look that worked, it didn’t quite fit in with my decor.
I scavenged my craft closet and found some cotton string and some thin jute rope. Both looked nice, but I chose the jute string/rope to fit in with my overall decor. You could also try yarn.
I started on one side and tightly wrapped the jute string around one side of the horseshoe.
It’s a good idea to go slowly so you can make it look uniform.
When I got to the “U” part of the horseshoe, I cut the string on the backside.
I used a low temperature hot glue gun to glue the end of the string to the backside of the horseshoe. I then started wrapping string from the other side of the horseshoe using the same slow, tight method down towards the “U”, cut the string and hot glued it to the backside of the horseshoe.
You could continuously wrap the string all the way around the shoe in one continuous piece (as I tried that) but it didn’t seem to look as uniform as when I did it in two sections.
Next, I cut a long piece of the same string to about 12 inches.
I wrapped it around each end of the horseshoe about 3 times and knotted each side. This provided a nice string to hang them with.
You could add a little bit of glue to the knot if you are concerned with it coming untied.
You could add another color of string either for hanging or to add another color to the horseshoe. If you have a colorful home or want to place it in a kid’s bedroom, you could use colorful string to create beautiful rainbow horseshoes.
If you don’t have horseshoes like I had, you could order them online (here’s a link to some similar to mine on Amazon.com) or try finding them in a thrift store. Mine were about 4 inches in height.
I’m not sure exactly where I bought the jute string, but I’m sure it was at a craft store like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. Here’s a link to some similar to what I used on Amazon.
You could leave the hanging string off the horseshoes and just use them as decor around your home.
There is no right or wrong way to hang a horseshoe. Some believe that hanging it with the ends facing up will help you gather good luck and keep it. Others believe hanging it with the ends facing down will shower good luck upon all that enter your home.
I hung mine above our front door in our foyer area. It adds decoration to a space that is often overlooked.
No matter how you display them, they can be a cute addition to any home decor. I currently live in Florida, but being from Kentucky, the horseshoes are a representation of where I’m from, as well as a wonderful memory to have on display in dedication to my truly awesome grandparents, Rocky and Carol.