why do horses wear shoes?

Question

Why do domestic hoses wear horse shoes, where wild horses are able to run around without any problems and without shoes?

Answer 1

Wild horses aren't required to carry weight on their backs for long periods of time over all kinds of terrain, including tarmac.

Domestic horses are capable of existing without horseshoes, depending on the condition of their feet, the amount of work they are required to do and the terrain they are required to cross.

For instance, a good strong native pony with hard feet, travelling across grassland or sand, would probably never need more than a monthly trim and tidy-up.

However, a refined type like a Thoroughbred has very thin walls and soles to its feet and just isn't built to be hardy. Put him at speed across a stony area and he'll be lame for months afterwards.

So, its basically all our fault for breeding all the good qualities out of modern horses. You would think we'd have learned, by now, wouldn't you?

Answer 2

Wild horses don't survive if they don't have good feet. Their enviroment only allows for horses with good, strong feet. They also live in an enviorment that promotes foot health. They wander over 20 miles every day.

Domestic horses aren't bred for good feet. Say my horse just won the kentucky derby. Who cares if his hooves aren't quite so strong ans they could be??? I'll breed him any way (and get lots of money) and pass on those super fast genes, along with the ones for softer feet.
Some Domestic horses have good feet. my mare has never worn shoes in her life. Some horses have not-so good feet, or are riding over rough terrain and the feet are wearing down faster than they can grow.

Some people think that all horses need shoes, and this can actually damage the horse's feet. They can usualy be rehabilitaed by going barefoot again, but such a prosess takes time, and not everyone wants to wait a year. Also, it hurts at first. Imagine walking barefoot through the woods. Your feet will be tender, but if you do it every day for a year, your feet will get calluses, and you won't mind any more. Thats what the shoes to barefoot transition is like.

Shoes are niether good nor bad. Its wrong to damage a horses foot when he doesn't really need shoes, but its also wrong to look at a horse who just as really bad feet and say, "you can't wear shoes, they are bad!" when it would help. You have to know your horse.

Answer 3

I doubt there has ever been a survey done, so it's not too likely you will find any hard data. However, when you factor in all the retired horses, young horses, horses that aren't getting ridden much, my guess is that an overwhelming majority of horses don't wear shoes. As for horses in work, those in light work often do not need shoes. However, horses in moderate to heavy work or those with any kind of foot issues DO usually wear shoes. A lot of people who ride for pleasure don't need to shoe their horses. I can't take any sort of guess at percentages there. I suspect it varies around the country -- people who might have to trail ride on roads or in rocky country might shoe, whereas people who live on soft ground and have soft trails probably don't. I'd say that when you get into active sports like jumping, cutting, reining, eventing, endurance riding etc., probably 99% of the horses in competition have metal shoes -- and those who don't probably have some alternative form of hoof protection, either boots, rubber shoes, glue-on shoes or something similar. Horses in local horse shows may sometimes show barefoot, though probably a minority, and once you get past the state and into the regional or national level, I'd say it's safe to say that again, 99% of them are shod. However, these are very rough guesses based solely on my own observations. As they say, 87.539% of all statistics are made up on the spot! (smile)

Answer 4

Why Do Horses Wear Horseshoes

Answer 5

Because wild horses have always lived without shoes, and becuase of their breed. but with domestic horses, they have been domesticated, and ridden, and been kept in stalls, so their feet had just become spoiled.
and, it depends on the breed. when people brought horses from arabia, the horses feet were hard and tough and used to dry weather, but when they got to america, it was wet and stuff, so they just fell apart.
ok, thats all. if i didnt give enough info, you can look on the internet.

Answer 6

Horses wear shoes because of the type ofwork the do.
Carriage horses often wear rubber shoes to help to cushion their joints from all the pounding on the hard concrete.
Jumpers have shoes with studs in them to aid with traction.
Police hores often have shoes with borium on them to help with traction on the concrete.
Most of these situation are never encountered in the wild and horses just walked around and grazed and were not on concrete or made to jump over jumps on artificial footing.
They are to protect the horses feet from injury and to give traction to them on slipery footings.

Answer 7

Domestic horses wear shoes to keep their feet from tearing up. When people ride them it makes it harder on their feet, but not all horses that are ridden have to wear shoes.

Answer 8

Because we choose to make them wear them. All horses, no matter what their breed, can adapt to going shoe-less with careful maintenance of their feet. And I guarantee the amount of lame horses would dramatically reduce if we all just took their shoes off and let them walk around as nature intended.

Answer 9

Domestic horses need shoes because of the extra weight being carried on their backs(humans and packs), it protects their feet when jumping, or traveling through rocky terrains, also they make horse shoes with types of spikes on them, to keep them slipping on pavement.

Answer 10

Not all horses wear shoes, I own 12 horses at the moment, and not one has shoes.