Every athlete needs a good pair of shoes. The type of shoe an athlete wears depends on the sport he or she plays. Basketball players wear rubbersoled sneakers to give them traction on the wooden basketball Court. Golfers wear shoes with small spikes on the sole to give them traction on wet or slippery golf courses. Bowlers wear shoes with slick soles that reduce friction and allow them to glide During their approach to the lane.

The same is true for equine athletes—horses. The type of shoe a horse needs depends on the sport in which it can be involved in. Horseshoes are available in a wide variety oF materials and styles, developed for different types of horses and the work they do. Common materials are steel, aluminum and plastic. Some specialized shoes are made from magnesium, titanium or copper.

A Horse needs new shoes every six to eight weeks. Trimming and shoeing is a regular and very important part of caring for a horse. The person who puts shoes on a horse is called a farrier. A standard horseshoe is made of steel and has a groove in which the farrier inserts nails to hold the shoe to the roof. (Don’t worry! It doesn’t hurt the horse at all. It’s just like getting your fingernails trimmed.) Most horseshoes have spaces for eight nails.

The horseshoe probably was introduced to Western culture by the Greeks in the 4th Century. Horses in the wild do not have shoes, but domestic horses need shoes for several reasons. The hoof is made of horn, much as the human fingernail, and grows hard, tough and flexible only with optimal nutrition. Horses in the wild eat live grasses, weeds and shrubs, which are high in nutrients such as beta carotene. Cultivated feeds lose a high proportion of their beta carotene within hours of harvesting and so do not provide this vital ingredient to the horse.

In nature, the horse walks and grazes continuously over a wide variety of surfaces. This keeps the horse’s feet worn smooth, even and hard, like a callus. In domestication, the horse doesn’t cover as much ground on a daily basis, so the hooves harden much less and are more vulnerable to injury. In addition, the added weight of a human, pack load, cart or wagon traces can cause a horse’s hooves to wear more quickly than those of wild horses.

Horseshoes are also used to enhance the horse’s performance in athletic competitions, just as an athlete wears particular shoes for his or her particular event. The shape, weight, and thickness of a horseshoe can significantly affect the horse’s gait. Farriers trained in hot shoeing can make custom shoes to help horses with bone or muscle problems in their legs.