82 • THE HOESE OWNER's 



heel; the light'shade represerits the ground surface of the 

 web as wide at the heels as it is at the toe ; the dark line 

 representing the fuller carried hack no farther than is re- 

 quired for the nails, so that the shoe may not be weak- 

 ened unnecssarily. 



NAIIiIHG ON THE SHOE. 

 If the nails are of a proper shape, the holes straight 

 through the shoe, and the shoe fits the foot, it requires 

 vrey little skill to nail it on ; only pat the point of the 

 nail in the middle of the hole, keep the nail upright, and 

 drive it straight — it must come out in the right place, 

 low down in the crust, without the possibility of wound- 

 ing the sensitive parts of the foot. The shank of the nail 

 will pass straight through the substance of the crust, and 

 gain a good firm hold of it, leaving you the strongest 

 part from which to form a clinch. The clinches should 

 be short and broad, and not thinned by rasping away any 

 of their substance, but hammered at once into a slight 

 notch made in the hoof under each; and the rasp should 

 never be allowed to go over them after they have been 

 hammered down, for the sharp steel rasp is almost sure to 

 cut through the soft iron clinch just where it turns down, 

 and leave the appearance of a clinch, when, in truth, it 

 has been cut off at the bend, and the loose end only re- 

 mains buried in the notch in the hoof. You will do good 

 by rasping below the clinches, because you will thereby 

 remove the broken horn that the former nails have de- 

 stroyed ; but on no account ever use the rasp above the 

 clinches; if you do you will cut off the thin outer cover- 

 ing of the hoof, which is placed there to prevent the es- 

 cape of the natural moisture and to keep the horn tough ; 

 and if you rasp it away you will expose the horn to the 



