Horse Shoes and Pain Relief

[guest@endurance.net]

Karen Standefer hrschk@yahoo.com
Not one person has attempted to answer my initial question.  I'll pose it
separately:

How does a 3/8" of metal around the edge of the horse's hoof prevent pain
when travelling on rocks?

Secondarily:

If you have a horse's hoof that is conditioned to the terrain on which he
is running which means his hooves don't excessively wear during the course
of the ride, what good do shoes do for that horse?

Karen