Fred, Are those Belgians shod with " corkers"? My Grandpa, who died long before me was a quarry man for Many years. He had two grade draft horses, one a roan named Prince & Another jet black one he named N I double G - R. I guess appropriate in those days. Anyway when I still owned the quarry, I stumbled upon a horseshoe from yesteryear Apparently from one of my Grandpa's horses. & it has 4 cleats to help aid in traction. I will have Kirsten post a picture after dinner, as such technical prowess is beyond my feeble
mind. Anyway what put the quarry men out of business in the Catskills, was the discovery of a massive amount of natural cement in Rosendale. Not sure of date but thinking in the 30's. There is a street in Saugerties named Dock street where all the Quarry men would take their load of bluestone down to the lower Esopous, which ruins into the Hudson River, & float the stone to NYC for pavers & curbs. Now all that is history. There are still piles of cut bluestone stacked on Indianhead mtn that will be there for ever, that would be valued in the 10's of thousands. When I hunt the High peaks of the Catskills, & witness the memorabilia of yesteryear, it paints a vivid picture of men, blood, horses & stone boats. Todays epicures of liberalism could learn a lot from the book " The Catskills".
Jim