Why do we shoe domestic horses when wild horses don't need shoes. Wild horses roamed freely for millions of years on semi-arid plains and developed extremely tough hooves suited to their lifestyle. Domestic horses live a very different life, and their hooves often require the support and protection of shoes for the following reasons. They are often confined to wet pens or stalls which softens their hooves, causing them to separate in layers and collapse under the horses weight. Many domestic horses do not get enough exercise.
Regular exercise is essential for developing and maintaining dense, tough hooves.
Domestic horses are often overweight and are required to carry tack and a rider which adds stress to their feet. With wild horses, natural selection favors individuals with healthy, tough feet. With domestic horses, people often ignore hoof quality when choosing which horses to breed and focus exclusively on color or other cosmetic traits. Hot shoeing usually means the farrier makes the shoes from scratch in a forge, or modifies keg shoes in a forge, or heats a shoe to fit it to the hoof. Cold shoeing is when the farrier shapes and applies the shoes without heating them.