How Do Wild Horses Trim Their Hooves?

I’ve been teaching my son all the ins-and-outs of horse husbandry recently, and it’s been really great to see him getting fully stuck into to something.

One of the things we did recently was hoof trimming, and I showed him how to do it.

Not the most rewarding activity when it comes to horse maintenance, but it needs to be done!

However, he asked me, perfectly reasonably, how horses in the wild trim their hooves if they have to.

I had never thought about this before, so I decided to look into it.

How do wild horses trim their hooves?

Well, they don’t actually need to—their hooves are naturally worn down by their day-to-day activity. We have to trim domestic horses’ hooves because they wear shoes, and thus their hooves are not naturally worn down by movement. Wild horses do not even notice their hooves being trimmed.

So, as with almost every question related to wild horse grooming, the fact is they have an easy, natural solution.

They do not need to trim their hooves because nature trims them for them.

Sometimes I wish my horses could have the nature treatment and save me a job—but I’d rather do it right!

Let’s look further into this.

Do wild horses’ hooves overgrow?

Typically, no.

If you think about it, this mechanism is part of what has made horses so successful.

Their hooves, first of all, are great for walking on pretty much any surface.

Grass, rock, dust trails, even shallow streams.

Natural selection has meant that modern horses hooves grow at just the right rate that it keeps their feet well protected, while not growing too fast that the environment cannot break down the excess.

So, horses’ hooves in the wild do not overgrow because they are slowly worn down by walking.

Another thing worth mentioning, too, is that wild horses in general tend to walk quite a wide range each day.

Domestic horses often don’t even leave their pasture, so their hooves overgrow because they aren’t doing enough activity to wear them down.

So, it’s really just a question of usage.

Horses’ hooves are perfect for their use in the wild, and don’t need trimming—domestic horses do.

This leads in to our next question, about horseshoes.

Why do wild horses not need shoes?

More or less for the same reasons we’ve already discussed.

Horseshoes were, in many ways, an invention of people who took their horses on roads.

While horses’ hooves can stand to walk on a rocky path for some amount of time, when roads were invented, they could go many dozens of miles purely on a road.

This is no good for a horse’s natural hoof, and will cause it to wear down too quickly.

Thus, horseshoes protect the feet against this damage.

It’s all about protecting the hoof from wearing down.

Wild horses do not need this protection, as they only go where they choose—that is, only to terrain safe for their natural hooves.

So, we give horses shoes to protect their feet for the jobs we need them to do.

Wild horses have no obligations to walk on roads, so they walk where they please!

Do horses feel pain when trimming hooves?

This is a very common question, as it can be hard to watch, let alone do the trimming yourself. It must be causing them pain, surely?

Well, not really.

As I said, horses’ hooves are very thick, and so they really do not have many nerve endings on the ends of their hooves.

Indeed, they have virtually none.

Thus, when you trim their hooves, they only even realize because you need to lift up their feet to do so.

So, no, they really don’t feel any pain if you do it correctly!

Do horses enjoy hoof trimming?

Some may well enjoy it—some may just enjoy getting to spend time with you!

Horses are all different and individual, so some may enjoy it more than others.

In general, horses will be a bit hostile to trimming.

Not so much the trimming itself, but the having to stay still, having to lift its legs up, letting you be so close to it—these things could be uncomfortable for some horses.

In any case, it needs to be done, whether your horse likes it or not.

Untrimmed hooves can be a big tripping hazard, so they really do need to be trimmed.

But it won’t cause any pain, and they may even enjoy it.

Hoof trimming is really only necessary for domestic, shoe-wearing horses that don’t get out a great deal.

Wild horses do not, in general, have the problem of overgrown hooves because their hooves are naturally worn down by the environment.

That said, they may sometimes have to take some time to scrape them off against a rock or something, but in general, they do not have a problem with overgrown hooves.