Page "Horseshoe" Paragraph 19

Many changes brought about by domestication of the horse have led to a need for shoes for number of reasons.

Overall in captivity, horses ' hooves harden much less and are more vulnerable to injury.

In the wild, a horse may travel up to 50 miles per day to obtain adequate forage.

While horses in the wild covered large areas of terrain, they usually did so at relatively slow speeds, unless being chased by a predator.

They also tended to live in arid, steppe climates.

The consequence of slow but nonstop travel in a dry climate is that horse's feet are naturally worn to a small, smooth, even and hard state.

The continual stimulation of the sole of the foot keeps it thick and hard.

However, in domestication, the ways horses are used differs from their natural environment.

Domesticated horses were moved in large numbers from the arid steppes to colder and wetter areas.

These softer and heavier soils soften the hooves and have made them prone to splitting, making hoof protection necessary.

Consequently, it was in northern Europe that the nailed horseshoe arose in its modern form.