120 HORSES AND ROADS. 



it to a tip later on. Most likely he will bring it to 

 that at the second shoeing ; but he is able to take 

 care of himself and his horse, and stands in no need 

 of advice. 



* Hot shoeing will become unnecessary by the 

 use of tips, which any person ought to be able to 

 put on with very little practice, and thus save the 

 time and trouble ' (and, in his case, a twenty mile 

 journey) ' of having to send their horse away to be 

 shod.' The writer is under great obligation to 

 ' Aberlorna ' for having made this remark : he would 

 have already made it himself had he not feared to 

 see it scouted. If owners would interest themselves 

 so far as to accompany their horses to the forge, and 

 carefully watch the process of shoeing, they would 

 see distinctly that the nailing on of a shoe has no 

 great mystery attached to it, and that any carter or 

 groom could do it as well as a farrier, if he tried in 

 earnest. The pointing of the nails is the chief 

 thing. Nails as they come from the manufactory 

 have, of course, a certain kind of point ; but it will 

 be seen that farriers always give it a modification by 

 hammering it on one side only, which is on what is 

 intended for the inside, with a view of giving the 

 nail an inclination to drive, in a slight degree, out- 

 wards, and so avoid pricking the inner crust. Whilst 

 driving a nail, the operator will be remarked to be 

 feeling, with a finger over the place, where he 

 wishes the point to come out ; and, should the 

 slight bulging out, which the nail carries before it, 

 not appear to him to be in the right place, he will 



