158 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



wall. Were the outside edge of the shoe, with nail- 

 holes punched thus, to fit exactly with the outside 

 of the wall, as it ought to do, the hold, the nails 

 would then have, would be too slight to retain the shoe 

 in its position for any time. By setting the shoe within 

 the circumference of the sole, in order to obtain more 

 hold for the nails, there is a rim of horn left round 

 the shoe, which has to be rasped round to prevent it 

 from breaking and splitting irregularly ; this accounts for 

 the univeral use of the rasp, on the lower part of the 

 crust of the hoof, among ignorant shoeing-smiths. 

 Having accepted a false system of punching the nail- 

 holes, they are forced, in order to keep the shoe on, to fix 

 it in a manner that necessitates the use of the rasp on 

 the outside of the horn. If a horse owner makes one of 

 them fifc such a shoe exactly to the circumference of the 

 foot, and if it, from insufficient hold, comes off in a few 

 days, the fact of its doing so will be a convincing proof 

 to the shoeing^smith of the excellence of his own 

 views on the subject, and the absurdity of our new 

 fangled ideas. 



For a foot with a full amount of horn, T 3 ^ths of an 

 inch will be about the proper distance that the nail- 

 holes should be from the outside edge of the shoe on its 

 foot surface ; a little more towards the toes, and a little 

 less towards the heels. 



The nail-holes should not be punched before the foot 

 is ready for the shoe to be applied to it, so that the 

 smith may avoid the parts of the hoof, which may have 

 been pierced by the old nails, or which may have become 

 chipped or split. 



