Horseshoe - Encyclopedia Britannica

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External Websites

• UCDavis - Department of Biomedical Engineering - Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory - Design and demonstration of a dynamometric horseshoe for measuring ground reaction loads of horses during racing conditions
• CiteSeerX - Generalized Horseshoes in the Standard Mapping (PDF)
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - The effect of horseshoes and surfaces on horse and jockey centre of mass displacements at gallop
• Frontiers - Frontiers in Marine Science - Horseshoe Crab Aquaculture as a Sustainable Endotoxin Testing Source

horseshoe equine plate Ask Anything Homework Help Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

horseshoe, U-shaped metal plate by which horses’ hooves are protected from wear on hard or rough surfaces. Horseshoes apparently are a Roman invention; a mule’s loss of its shoe is mentioned by the Roman poet Catullus in the 1st century bc.

Related Topics: horse horsemanship hoof Why Are Horseshoes Lucky? Why Do Horses Need Horseshoes? (Show more) See all related content

The density and insensitivity of the hoof makes it feasible to attach shoes securely by nailing. The craft of the smith, or blacksmith, the process of forging and affixing horseshoes, became one of the great staple crafts of medieval and modern times and contributed to the development of metallurgy.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.