Horseshoe with dual-sided grooves centered on a bridge for splitting the horseshoe into two halves

A shoe configured to be attached to a hoof of an ungulate, the shoe comprising:

• a support surface facing the hoof when attached directly thereto;
• an exposed ground-facing surface facing a ground surface when the support surface is attached to the hoof;
• a first leg and a second leg, each of the first and second legs having a plurality of holes arranged in a recess on the ground-facing surface;
• and
• a bridge;
• the shoe having a first configuration and a second configuration, the first and second configurations each comprising:
• the bridge extending along an entire distance between a closest one of the plurality of holes of the first leg and a closest one of the plurality of holes of the second leg to define a width of the bridge, the bridge having a first groove on the support surface and a second groove directly opposite and co-aligned with the first groove on the ground-facing surface,
• each of the first groove and the second groove extending across the bridge from an outer circumference of the bridge to an inner circumference of the bridge between the two free sides thereof such that the bridge has a reduced thickness between the first and second grooves, wherein a side of the bridge along the inner circumference is free,
• the first groove and the second groove being in a center of the bridge,
• the shoe having the first configuration in which the shoe is a single unitary piece having the first and the second grooves, wherein in the first configuration a height of the bridge has uniformity between the inner circumference and the outer circumference across the entire width of the bridge, and the first groove having an initial depth in the first configuration,
• the shoe having the second configuration in which the shoe is unattached to the hoof, the first groove having a depth that is at least twice as deep as the initial depth in the second configuration, wherein an overall shape of the shoe remains intact in the first configuration and the second configuration,
• the shoe being rigid in the first and second configurations and being composed of a material including a metal or a polymer or a combination thereof, such that the uniform height and the width of the bridge and a distance along the outer circumference between the first and second legs in the first and second configurations are unchanged;
• and
• the shoe having a third configuration when attached to the hoof, the third configuration in which the bridge is composed of two separate and immediately adjacent halves to permit lateral and medial movement of the shoe.