436 TREATISE ON HORSESHOEING. 



natural manner. The nails should not be driven 

 high up in the crust, but brought out as soon as 

 possible. Another mistake with most smiths 

 is in rasping the clinches away too fine; they 

 should be turned broad and flat. It is also a 

 custom with some to rasp and sand-paper the 

 whole surface of the hoof, for the purpose of 

 making it look nice and smooth. Such a prac- 

 tice should never be tolerated ; the covering 

 thus removed is provided by nature to protect 

 the too rapid evaporation of the moisture of the 

 hoof, and when taken away, causes the horn to 

 become dry and brittle. It has so long been 

 customary to use as many nails as could be 

 conveniently driven, in fact, of fastening the 

 shoe as if it were to a lifeless block of wood, 

 that the fear is very commonly entertained that 

 the shoe will not be held in its place with so 

 few nails. Such fears are utterly groundless, as 

 both theory and practice demonstrate. If the 

 presence of a nail in the crust were a matter of 

 no moment, and two or three more than are 

 really necessary were merely useless, no great 



