SHOEING. 275 



of the shoe is called the fulleiiing. It has two objects, the 

 principal one of which is to receive the heads of the nails and 

 prevent them from being bent or broken off; its other object 

 is to increase the secm'ity of the foot on the ground. The nail- 

 holes, of course, are punched in the fullering. 



The fullering should be as near the outer edge of the shoe 

 as possible, and the nail-holes should be so punched as to 

 slant inward, making the nail take nearly the direction of the 

 grain of the crust. The nail-hole should come out on the foot, 

 or upper side of the shoe, near the inner border of the 

 seating, but never in the beveling, or concaving. Then, by a 

 proper pointing of the nail, it can easily be made to come out 

 rightly on the crust. If the fullering be too far in, the nail 

 will have to take a direction outward to avoid wounding the 

 sensitive parts of the foot, and in clinching it, the crust of the 

 hoof will be forced in, or contracted. This way of driving the 

 nails is called shouldering. It is one of the worst evils in all 

 bad shoeing. 



Paring the Crust. — The inside of the crust should generally not 

 be pared down at all. It should be merely leveled, so as to' 

 give the shoe an even bearing. If it is pared down, the shoe 

 will rest on the seat of corns. The paring down may be carried 

 round the toe, and outer quarter, and heel, as low as necessary. 

 After the shoe is prepared for being fitted, and the paring of the 

 tread carried tq sufficient extent, the shoe may be applied to it 

 warm enough to- mark any uneven points of bearing, which may 

 then be smoothed off. The shoe should fit so clo?o to the tread 

 y,§ to hold water. 



A colt having crooked pasterns, leaning outward when first 

 shod, may be benefited by paring the inside, and putting on a 

 shoe thin on the inner side and thick on the outside. This 

 subject is treated in another place in this work. 



Paring the Sole. — When the horse is in the state of nature, or 

 not shod at all, the crust, or tread, keeps worn down, and the 

 scaly horn which covers the horny sole keeps worn off, leaving 



