Ox shoes are kind of fun to look at. The difference between them and horseshoes is easy to explain. Horses have a single middle toe on each foot, which is the hoof. Cattle, being artiodactyls rather than perissodactyls, have hooves that are cloven between two toes. Thus they require two shoes on each foot. Little commas rather than big U's.
They aren't used as much now because cattle aren't used for hard labor or taken on long drives as much anymore. And we've never gotten into the habit of racing them.
The fact that we don't shoe cows or bulls is a relief to animal professionals, even if these shoes do look cool. Unlike horses, they can't stand on three legs. Putting shoes on them is a pretty big task.
1 comment:
I knew about shoeing oxen with two comma shaped pieces of metal for each hoof but I didn't know why they were shod at all. It makes sense that animals who haul wagons would need shoes in order to walk any distance or to pull ploughs.
What was news to me was learning that they can't stand on three feet. The answer provided on the History Museum makes sense: Oxen, unlike horses, are incapable of balancing on three legs while a farrier nails in a shoe. They're either incapable of balancing, or they hate it so much that it's impossible to do this to them. I like the idea they're inheritantly that bad tempered.
But if you really wanted to put shoes on your bovid you might have the beast lie down. Now how do you suppose they do that?.. I mean if they don't want to.
https://youtu.be/4JcJvS6Mip8?si=mSdxbsQ62tX6NlnU
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