Horseshoe Bend was formed by millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River as the Colorado Plateau uplifted. The river, originally a meandering one, cut down through the rising landscape, creating the deep, horseshoe-shaped canyon we see today. This process is known as an entrenched meander . Numerous theories for the presence of “meanders” include random obstacles altering the path of the river. the idea is that the meander “equilibrates” the river to prevent too much sediment build-up in one place. After the horseshoe formed, Around 5 to 6 million years ago although there are some hypothesis that say it was even longer ago than that. the movement of tectonic plates forced an uplifting of the Colorado Plateau taking the Colorado river with it, thousands of feet above sea level. This uplift forced the river to cut downward into the existing landscape. Thus giving horseshoe bend the dramatic aesthetic it has today