THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 33 



it up, and in filing- under liis nails Avas careful not to weaken 

 the clinch, but left it just as strong- as he could. In ham- 

 mering- the clinches, the nails being- small, he didn't have 

 to do so much pounding- to g-et them bedded. He set those 

 clinches down with the bod}^ of the nail and riveted them, 

 not simply bending- them over and hammering- them flat, 

 because then they would spring- and not bed in the horn, 

 and would work loose and show up in a little while, and 

 perhaps set the horse to cutting- his ankles. Then he filed 

 them off smooth, and he had a nice small, strong- clinch. 

 He didn't use the file or rasp over the whole of that foot, 

 but took off the roug-h horn below the nails, and the place 

 where he stepped on his foot with a sharp calk, filing* very 

 smooth and thin so as to g-ive the foot a chance to g-row 

 solid and strong- and not keep cracking* all of the time to 

 finally end in a seam in the foot half way round his quarters 

 — a bad foot to put nails into. 



Then he got a pair of shoes somewhat wider in the web 

 for his forward feet and somewhat heavier. Those shoes 

 were concave, so they w^ould not bear on the sole. He fitted 

 them light on the heels. He used about one size larg-er of 

 nails and drove them carefully as with the hind ones, using- 

 only six nails. He didn't want to tie his foot too tig-ht and 

 have the nails too far back on the quarter where it Avas very 

 meaty. He put two clips on these shoes, too, and quarter 

 clips which held almost as much as the nails, and kept the 

 foot solid, and took the g-reater part of the strain ofT the 

 nails. 



Great care should be taken to fit shoes level on the feet, 

 as it is impossible to keep shoes on ti^-ht or long- unless they 

 are fitted with a bearing- all around the wall except the heels. 

 A foot may be made to look quite nice by filing- it all over 

 on the outside, but it is not g-ood for the foot. 



Where there is an overg-rowth of toe and a very thick wall 

 it is always best to thin it down and weaken it, but it is not 



