SHOEING. 557 
the heel, but for what purpose the shoe is thus weakened, I am at a loss 
to know. It has not the slightest effect in preventing slipping, because 
it is not wide enough to present a rough edge to the ground, and therefore 
it only weakens the iron without any counterbalancing advantage. Its 
use is to hold the nail heads, so that they do not wear away and lose their 
shoulders, by which alone they keep the shoe on. The fullering, in my 
opinion, should merely extend far enough to contain the number of holes 
required, which are punched in it after the shoe is otherwise completed. 
According to the thickness of the crust in each foot should be the distance 
of the fullering from the outer edge, the inner side of the groove corre- 
sponding exactly with the inner edge of the crust. This will allow of the 
nails taking firm hold of the horn without being driven in a parallel line 
with the fibres of which it is composed. If this is not avoided there is 
always a risk of their pricking the lamine, or passing so close to these parts 
as to endanger them by causing undue pressure. Mr. Miles, who has written 
a most practical treatise on Shoeing, at the instance of the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, is of opinion that five nails only are required to keep any 
shoe firmly on, but this is contrary to the experience of most practical men, 
who find that with less than three nails on the inside and four on the out 
the shoe is very liahle to come off. Mr. Miles recommends two nails on the 
inside and three on the out, but though fewer n number they are wider apart 
than usual, and they are carried quite as far back as they need be when two 
additional nails are employed. There has been a great outcry made lately 
against the confinement of the foot by fixing the inside heel of the crust 
to the shoe, and Mr. Turner has insisted upon avoiding this, by driving 
all the nails into the outside crust, and none whatever into the inside. 
Here I think a great mistake has been committed, for if the foot alters 
its shape in reference to its shoe, that is to say, if the heels expand, 
since the outer one is entirely confined in its place, it cannot move, and all 
the friction is thrown upon the inside heel, whereby harm instead of good 
is done, as it is more readily brought inwards than driven out. I much 
prefer, therefore, using sever nails instead of five, but keeping all the 
nails nearer the toe, as shown in fig, 2. This number of nails, properly 
driven, will keep any shoe on, if it is not too long at the heels for the 
foot, and if it is not allowed to overlap it. When the crust is very thin, 
and will not admit of a firm hold being taken by the nails, the holes 
must of course be punched further back ou the outside; but with a sound 
foot and unbroken crust, the position of the nails shown in fig. 2 is the 
best for preserving the foot ina sound state. The toe of the shoe should be 
turned up into a clip, which, however, need not be large enough to inter- 
fere with the nail holes there. It is a great mistake to cut away all the horn 
from the toe in the attempt to make the foot look well, and if this is not 
done there is ample room for the nails behind the outer edges of the clip. 
THE SHOE RECOMMENDED BY Mr. Spooner in his well-known and 
admirable work on “The Foot of the Horse,” is described by that gentle- 
man as follows: “It is then a seated shoe, with the flat part rather 
wider than common. The web of the shoe, for a moderate-sized horse 
used on the road, is about an inch in width, but varying according to 
circumstances, and being narrower at the heels, where the upper wearing 
surface is very slightly bevelled outwards, than at the other parts: the 
ground part flat, sometimes fullered and sometimes stamped; but when 
the former plan is adopted the fuller is not deep, or too near the edge, 
but somewhat wider than common. Three holes merely are stamped on the 
inside toe, and five on the outside toe and quarters, with a clip at the toe 
