WHY?-

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 September 1925, Page 20

WHY?-

Why Does a Horse Need: Shoes? The loops of iron, nailed to horses' hoofs seem very unnatural, for in their wild state*' horses require no shoes. But the shoes are necessary because the hard roads along which houses are driven, would otherwise wear away the: horn of the hoof. It is probable, too, that the hoofs of horses driven along dry roads become dry and unhealthy through lack of moisture. On their native pampas the wild horses bathe their feet every morning in the dew of the grass, and the moisture soaks into the. horn of the hoofs and keeps it healthy and tough. All experienced horsemen know that dew is a, splendid ointment for horses’ hoofs, and it- lias been found that horses which are kept at night in dewy fields have such healthy hoofs that they can do a great deal of work without shoes. But the chief reason, why horses must be shod lies in the hard roads and stony streets, and ns long as horses continue to be driven or ridden along such roads they will require iron shoes.