I don't know if you have ever ridden a horse on the grassland, or have you paid attention to the carriage inside when you watch movies and television works in your lifeThe horses had a U-shaped iron object on their hooves, which was called a horseshoe.
But if you look closely, you will find that the horses in the city and the horses in the horse farm have this thing, but the wild horses in the wild do not have this equipment on their feet. There is an episode in "Detective Conan" about a horse's foot bleeding and very painful, that is, the horseshoe needs to be changed. So is the horseshoe a burden imposed on the horse? Why don't horses in the wild need to play horseshoes?
Horseshoe, also known as horseshoe, is an iron hoof-shaped object nailed to the hooves of horses, mules and other livestock, which is generally U-shaped, and its main function is to protect the horse's hooves. At the very bottom of the hooves there is a thick layer of covering, about two to three centimeters thick, which is made up of keratin, similar to our human fingernails, which are mainly used to protect our fingers from injuryThe cuticle of the horseshoe is also very hard and has a certain protective effect.
However, the on the horse's hooves is slightly different from that of humans, and they have some drawbacks. First of all, the horns of the horse's hooves are very thick, and if they are not repaired, they will accumulate more and more, such as wearing high heels, which will eventually affect the horse's running.
Secondly,The horse's hooves are the most susceptible part of the horse, the horse's hooves are in contact with the ground at any time, and there will be strong friction in the process of contact, and this friction will cause damage to the horse's hooves. Sometimes there is silt and stagnant water on the ground, which will penetrate into it and cause the cuticle to fall off, and when the horse's hooves are not protected by the cuticle, the meat will rub directly against the ground, and the horse's hooves will bleed and rot, causing the horse to be infected with bacteria.
Although the horse's hooves do not have pain nerves, when the horse's hooves become thinner to a certain extent, the flesh of the horse's paw comes into contact with the ground, and the horse can feel pain. Therefore, in order to avoid damage to the horse's hooves, people invented horseshoes to protect the horse's hooves and slow down the damage to the horse's hooves.
The earliest records and material proofs show thatHorseshoes first appeared in ancient Rome, when they were made of iron or copper. Depending on the shape of the horseshoe, the shape of the horseshoe is specially made. But the fixing technique was different from now, at that time short nails were used, and additional leather was needed to fix the horseshoe by wrapping it around and around it.
The earliest evidence of the use of horseshoes in China is in the Yuan DynastyAlthough horses were equipped with iron bits and stirrups during the Qin and Han dynasties, no horseshoes were found。Expert analysis may be due to the fact that at that time, a hot soldering iron was directly used to burn the bottom of the horse's hooves to make it hard, and the horseshoe was not used exclusively.
After the Yuan Dynasty, horseshoes were used and promoted, and many people began to install this equipment in order to protect their horsesZhao Rushi, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, described in his book "Zhufan Zhi" that the horses of the Great Food Kingdom "used iron as shoes", indicating that horseshoes were already used in that period.
With the progress of the times, the design of the horseshoe is also constantly improving, at the beginning the material of the horseshoe was mostly iron, and later there are a variety of new materials, and now aluminum alloy is widely used. Horseshoes made of aluminum alloy have stronger plasticity and are stronger, and the protection of the horseshoe has also been improved a lot。The edges of the horseshoe have a wavy profile, and special non-slip spines are added to the bends on both sides, which work together with the nail head to make the horseshoe firmly on the ground.
The horseshoe protects the horse's hooves and makes the horse run faster. The horseshoe can make the horse stand better on the ground, when the ground is more slippery, it can prevent the horse from slipping, and it can also make the horse grasp the contact surface more firmly in the process of walking and running, running more easily and steadily, saving a lot of effort in the process of people riding and driving.
There are even legends describing it,If you find a fallen horseshoe in front of the door, it is a sign of good luck, and it is also a good gift to give someone a horseshoe。In ancient times, it was believed that iron items had the function of warding off evil spirits, and horseshoes were installed on horses to keep them safe.
Horseshoes bring many benefits to horses, so horseshoes are not a burden imposed on horses by humans, but an important item that can really protect horses, prevent them from getting sick or damage their hooves.
Horseshoes are custom-made items made for horses, and the horseshoe is fastened by barbed nails, and the horseshoes are cast according to the size of the horse's feet, and then they are placed on the horse's feet after cooling. Barbs on the nails prevent the horseshoe from falling off, and the horseshoe is cast and carefully fastened to the bottom of the horse's foot, and then the nail is driven to the horse's ankle bone with a hammer.
In many cases, when a horseshoe is placed on a horse, the horse may struggle, which can make people mistakenly think that the horse is particularly painfulBut in fact, it doesn't feel at allBecause the cuticle of the horse's hooves is very thick, like a human fingernail. When we cut our nails, we don't feel pain at all, as long as we don't touch the flesh, then it will be safe, and the cuticle of the horse's hooves is the same thing. Horses usually struggle because they feel panicked, not because the horseshoe is causing pain.
In some ** we can also see some of the horse's hooves bleeding,Horse's hoof bleeding is also relatively normal, as long as it is not a large amount of bleeding, then the bleeding can be stopped, and the proper operation will not cause great harm to the horse. After that, the horse will constantly come into contact with the ground as it runsThe friction will slowly smooth out the cuticle on the horse's hooves, so that the horseshoe is more fixed to the horse's hooves, and the horse will not be uncomfortable because of the cuticle.
As long as the cuticle of the horseshoe is trimmed regularly, then the horse will not have any discomfort, only if the cuticle is not trimmed for a long time may cause the cuticle to squeeze and cause pain, so the horseshoe is the function of protecting the horse, not a burden imposed on the horse by humans, and people do not have to worry about the pain of the horse at all.
Many people may wonder if horses in the wild are not cared for every day, and there is no need to repair the hooves regularlyBut they are still alive and well, and they are running very fast and unaffected, so why don't horses in the wild need a horseshoe?
Domesticated horses require regular trimming of the horse's hooves, but the situation of horses in the wild is different from that of domesticated horses, and the fundamental reason is that the living environment is different. The living environment in the wild is very difficult and the competition is fierce, and horses not only need to go out very long distances every day to forage for food, but also need to hide from many fierce predators.
When encountering predators, wild horses need to run fast to be able to dodge, if the horse's hooves are affected by the running, then the wild horses will be captured by natural predators, which is a fatal danger. Therefore, the wild horse has its own balancing function, and running fast will increase the friction between the horse's hooves and the ground, which is several times stronger than the daily travel friction of domesticated horses.
At the same time, horses in the wild also need to migrate regularly, which is also a process of long journeysEvery day, the horse's hooves rub against the ground a lot, and the degree of wear is very high.
At the same time, the growth rate of the cuticle of the wild horse hooves is also extremely fast, and the genes contain the factors that protect the horseshoe. And the horses that have been domesticated by people are often kept in the stables and do not go outThis only causes the domesticated horse's cuticle to grow all the time, wear out without friction, and eventually become thicker and thicker, not only for the horse to be unable to walk properly, but also for their own pain.
There was once a hoof of a domesticated horse on the Internet that had not been repaired for 10 years**, and the domesticated horse was very painfulThe skin on the horse's hooves has been bent into a very terrible shape, thirty or forty centimeters long. It is no longer able to walk or run, and it has become difficult to live a normal life. Therefore, domesticated horses must have their hooves trimmed, and horses in the wild have almost a balance of wear and tear and growth length, so there is no need for manpower to repair them.
The horseshoe is one of the tools created by humans to be beneficial to animalsHuman beings have also invented many useful tools for the protection of animals through their own ingenuity. For example, the wildlife crossing on Compton Road in Queensland, Australia** has built a bridge on the road for wildlife to make it easy to pass.
Due to the continuous expansion of human cities, the living space of wild animals has been greatly reduced, and the highway is very popular, and the speed of traffic on the road is very fast, and it is common for cars to hit wild animals. In order to protect these wildlife, a wildlife green lane has been specially built so that the animals can safely pass through the road through which vehicles travel.
In Japan, there is also a famous "Turtle Tunnel". Every year, a large number of sea turtles migrate during special periods, due to the expansion of the citySea turtles are very dangerous to move through the middle of the city, and they can easily be hit and killed. A specially designed underground turtle tunnel makes it easy for them to get around.
The turtle tunnel is a very small oval passage dug under the road surface of the city, and there are some strip-shaped devices on it to block it, so that it is the exclusive passage for turtles. The Turtle Tunnel has also become a famous attraction, and many tourists come to see the migrating turtles every year.
Now many citiesTransparent glass is used as a decoration in high-rise buildingsThe wall, although the glass wall is very good-looking, looks like it has a sense of science and technologyBut this is highly misleading for the flight of birds. Birds can't see the transparent glass, so they hit it directly from a high place, which is a disaster for the birds in the city.
After the German inventor discovered this phenomenon, in order to protect the bird from hitting the tall building,A special type of ultraviolet glass was invented。This glass can reflect ultraviolet rays from sunlightThe retina of birds has special cells that can receive ultraviolet rays, and when the transparent glass reflects ultraviolet rays, the birds can avoid impacts, and the number of birds dying from hitting high-rise buildings is also much reduced.
Retinal structure diagram of birds.
There are good and bad human inventions, and some tools invented by humans have caused great harm to animals, purely for their own interestsThe most prominent invention was the shotgun.
In the past, due to insufficient food, in order to replenish food and protein required by the bodyHumans had to invent some hunting items to hunt animals. Although it has been made illegal to hunt animals by law, hunters still hunt animals in some areas.
The lethality of the gun is extremely great, and the shotgun has been improved more accurately than the ordinary gun, which can hunt many large animals, many of which will be killed by direct hits from the shotgun. Not only is this not conducive to the protection of animals, but the shotgun itself is also harmful to people.
The horseshoe protects the horse, and humans are better able to tame the horse, which is a win-win invention, and the meaning of invention is to bring about a better change. We should invent some tools to protect animals, reduce the harm to animals, protect species diversity, and we can better protect animals in order to better help ourselves.