Horseshoes Pitching Rules – Home Page

Below you will find some of the prominent Horseshoe Pitching rules organizations and governing bodies. Click on the links to see more information regarding the listed organizations.

Basic Rules of Horseshoe Pitching

A popular sport in the US and Canada, horse pitching’s essential feature is the tossing or throwing of a horseshoe at a pin, peg, or stake. A game for two or four players, horse pitching’s main object is to ring the pin or throw the horseshoe as close to the pin as possible. Each player stands at one stake and throws two horseshoes at the other stake. A horseshoe encircling the stake is called a ringer and counts for the highest score. A ringer is made when the thrown horseshoe encloses the stake; it counts three points in scoring.

The rules of horseshoes allow one point if no player throws a ringer, for the shoe closest to the stake as long as it is within the width of a shoe itself. Regulation games are played to a winning score of 50, while informal games are played up to 21.

Horseshoe pitching is played on a court 50 ft (15.24 m) long and 10 ft (3.05 m) wide. Iron stakes extending 14 in. (35.56 cm) above the ground are planted 40 ft (12.19 m) apart. The horseshoe, a U-shaped plate, usually of iron or steel, must not weigh more than 40 oz (1134 g).