Why do they shoe horses?
Question
Why do they shoe horses? And when did it start?
Anne, Dagenham
Answer
** Definitive **
Ray, Gillingham
My sister is an archeologist and I've just rung her
Horse shoes weren't introduced in this country until Roman times. The first recorded use of horse shoes was in Assyria (or Persia, now Iran) in 200BC near the start of the Roman empire. They bought them over here when they came.
** Half-definitive **
Name: Staf, Liverpool
Qualification:
Answer: Part of it is down to ensuring their feet do not deteriorate with the hard surfaces that have been more extensive in recent years since we started building roads. In older times, they used to stand around in their own urine and that helped to rot their feet, so horseshoes were used. But I'm not sure when it started.