SECTION V. 



NAILING THE SHOE TO THE FOOT. 



" I ^HE art of properly nailing the shoe to the foot is one requiring 

 great practical skill ; it is an art which necessitates the use of 

 two of our senses — viz., hearing and touch — to be highly and pecu- 

 liarly educated. The skilled workman knows by the particular 

 sound elicited, and the degree of resistive force offered by the nail, 

 whether its direction be proper or not. A deaf man, or one of low 

 sensibility in point of touch, is entirely disqualified to nail shoes 

 upon the feet of horses. We have stated at page 17, Section IV., 

 that the nail holes in all cases should pass directly through the 

 seating of the shoe. When the nail holes are properly struck, and 

 the shoe fits the foot accurately, the task of the doorman is com- 

 paratively easy. On the other hand, when the nail holes are what 

 the smith denominates coarse — that is, some struck in the seating, 

 and others in the bevelling of the shoe, and at irregular distances 

 from each other ; or, if the workman be drunk at the time, it is 

 from causes such as these that driving the nail into the sensitive 

 tissues of the foot is most to be dreaded. A nail, when properly 

 driven, should be forced straight from the fingers of the smith to 



