The horses we see today have hoofs and not toes. However this wasn’t always the case. The early horses that lived 55 million years ago, such as the Hyracotherium were much smaller and had five toes. As the horses evolved and grew in size, it seems that the excess weight at the end of the legs had a big impact on speed. So to grow faster the horses began to reduce the number of toes and eventually came down to a single toe per leg, or the hoof.

The horse genes are still programmed to develop five toes in the womb, but as the fetus develops the remaining four toes tend to disappear before the eventual birth of the foal. It is the middle toe that develops into the hoof for the horse while the others are lost during the process of the fetus’ development. This allows the horses more swiftness and longer strides to help get away from predators. A fact that played heavily into their survival.

Evolution shows evidence of a number of animals changing over the eons to help survive better. That seems to be the primary reason why horses have hoofs now and no more toes. It would make an interesting science project to see what other animals have lost and gained as a result of their evolution for survival.