The sides and underside of a horse's hooves consist of a form of hardened skin - similar to human nails. Like nails they keep growing, but can be chipped and worn down by use.
Horses in the wild do not have protection for their hooves. Although they can move at speed, especially when running for their lives, they generally move at a slow pace. If there is any damage to the hooves it can be serious. Lame horses can become easy prey.
When people began keeping horses, they used them to carry heavy loads as well as riding on their backs. The riders quite often made them gallop. As most people who had a horse wanted it to be useful for as long as possible, they realised that they needed to find a way to look after their hooves.
Horsemen in Asia a thousand years ago made socks from animal skins or wove them from plants to put on their horses' hooves.
In the second century AD Roman riders put 'hipposandals'* on their horses. These were made from leather and metal that fitted over the horses' hooves, and were tied on with leather straps.
In northern Europe, the ground was often soft and wet. This was not only a problem for horses to walk on, it also softened their hooves. Various ways of fixing these problems were tried. By the sixth century metal shoes were being nailed onto hooves. By the year 1000AD horseshoes were used throughout Europe. The early shoes were made from bronze, but later ones were made from iron and were heavier.
In England, coins as well as horseshoes were made of iron; the shoes were sometimes more valuable. In the 12th Century, horseshoes were accepted in the place of money to pay taxes. The collected shoes were then used on soldiers' horses.
Today, most horseshoes are made of steel, although some are made of aluminium, titanium, rubber or plastic.
*\*hippo is the Latin word for horse. Latin is the language spoken by the ancient Romans.*