Hello everyone. Today we’re going to talk about horseshoes. Horseshoes have been around a LONG time. How long? The ancient Romans are credited for having the first horseshoe. As time progressed horseshoes became more and more common. So why the division now on why horses need shoes or not? It comes down to people’s severe differences in opinions not based on research or fact. We will say that there are times for each. Not every horse needs to be shod and some horses need to be.
If the horse has good genetics and not performing a significant work/sport load they may not require the use of horseshoes. If horses are going to go without shoes they need to have tough hooves, without any deformities, lots of natural grazing time, and sound bone structure. Horses have been around for millions of years, long before the horseshoe was invented. But natural selection did the job of eliminating traits that were not good for horses.
With domesticated horses and breeding for specific traits, we see more hoof defects and degradation. These are the reasons that a horse might require shoes. A lot of horses in sports or working realms require horseshoes due to the increased loads being placed on them. Stabling horses for prolonged periods has also been shown to degrade hoof health. Again another reason to shod a horse.
So the real lesson is not to use generalizations of “all horses need” or “no horse needs”. Ultimately it is about what the individual horse needs.
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