Horseshoes, also known as palms, are iron hoof-shaped objects mounted and nailed to the hooves of horses, cattle and other livestock. Horse's hooves have two layers of composition, and the ground in contact with a layer of hard horny, the top layer is living horny. Horse hooves and ground contact, by the friction of the ground, the corrosion of stagnant water, will quickly fall off, nail the horse's palm is mainly to slow down the wear and tear of the horse's hooves.

The use of horseshoes not only protects the hooves, but also makes the hooves more solid grip on the ground, riding and driving are very favorable. Horseshoes of the material is mild steel is what the people call ordinary iron metal, in the earliest times by the blacksmith hand-beaten from, with the progress and development of the times, the product by the original simple pastoral use, and finally developed into the current used in equestrian competitions.

Now the material has aluminum alloy and so on. "Horseshoes" mainly on the hoof to play a protective role in minimizing the hoof and ground contact, friction by the ground, the corrosion of water on the hoof damage. The horse's hooves have two layers, and the ground contact layer is a layer of about 2-3 centimeters thick hard horny, above a layer of living horny.