Compare the solar views of these two racehorse hooves. The one on the left is from a 3 year old racehorse, who never saw shoes with the exception of a 2 month period in which he was forced to wear shoes for racing. The one on the right is of a 9 year old racehorse who has been shod his entire racing career and afterwards as well.

3 Year Old Racehorse Unshod

9 Year Old Racehorse Shod Most of Life

See how beautiful and concave the foot is on the left? There is absolutely NO flaring of the hoof wall, as you can clearly see the tight white line as indicated by the green area. Now look at the hoof on the right, there is over an inch of flared hoof wall outside of the sole area as depicted by the red area which shows the edge of the sole and the flare. These huge flares partly contributed to this horse’s very flat feet.