When Henry Asmus was shoeing horses in the early 1900s, his job was keeping horses working in the steep hills of Ithaca, N.Y.

I was given this horseshoe, which remains in my possession, about 25 years ago. It was found at the National Stud, Newmarket, England, when they were digging a post-hole while referencing a paddock.

When Ransom E. Olds introduced his 1-cylinder, 3-horsepower, tiller-steered, curved-dash Oldsmobile in 1901 for $650, the fledgling American automobile industry was laying the groundwork for greater accessibility to the middle class. Yet, the horse’s role in everyday transportation wasn’t quite ready for the pages of history.