Category:Athletics-Horseshoe Pitching

HORSESHOE PITCHING. The games of HORSESHOE PITCHING and quoits are closely related. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was general agreement about how horseshoes should be played, but details differed. Organizers of horseshoe matches published their own rules in local newspapers. The most dramatic difference from the modern game was the peg or pin, as the center stake was called, which protruded only 2 inches (51 mm) from the ground. The horseshoes were true horseshoes, nearly circular in shape, and, as in quoits, the expectation was that a ringer would land around the peg and remain there, some insisting the shoe not touch the peg.

In the 1907 "World Championship", shoes that rested 2 feet (0.61 m) from the peg were declared foul, and cost the player a half-point each. A player could score one or two points if his shoes were closer to the peg than his opponent's. Ringers scored five points, and leaners, three. The scoring rewarded with 10 points a player who capped or slid under an opponent's ringer with one of their own, a difficult achievement with a 2-inch peg. Topping two ringers by an opponent with a ringer of one's own earned fifteen points, and two ringers topping two ringers counted twenty-one points. There were similar rewards for topping a leaner with a leaner or a leaner with a ringer.

In 1920, the Chicago Horseshoe Tournament prescribed a peg 8 inches (200 mm) above the ground. A shoe resting 2 feet from the peg was still foul, but no longer cost the player points. A distinction was made between a perfect ringer, which circled the peg when it struck the ground, and a scratch ringer, which circled the peg in some other manner. These scored five points and three points respectively. Leaners were also worth three points. There were no bonuses for topping opponents.

By 1925, local newspapers were citing the rules used at the national tournament, "as adopted by the national association January 1, 1925." Stakes were 40 feet apart and projected upward 10 inches (250 mm). The scoring was close to what is observed today, without penalty points, bonuses for topping, or special attention to leaners.

Even in more recent years, local rules continue. "Whether a 'leaner' will count as one or two points is up to the home team" in one contest.[7] As successful as the NHPA has been, there are still those who find a park, drive stakes in the ground about thirteen strides apart, and wait for others to appear once the chiming begins. Alan Francis is regarded as the best player of all time, winning the world championship 23 times.

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Source:

"Horseshoes," Wikipedia. Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoes

Those involved with the sport in Dubuque include: