78 NAILS, FEW AND SMALL. 



■to correspond with the outside of the hoof, as the enamel of the 

 hoof must never be cut away to make the hoof fit an unsuitable 

 shoe. 



153. — The nail holes must be bevelled throudi the whole 

 thickness of the shoe, and made to exactly fit the heads of the 

 nails, so that they will hold the shoe on until worn out. The nails 

 should be made of the very best material, so that they may be as 

 small, and few in number as possible. Three on the outside and 

 two on the inside are all that should be used with a full-sized shoe. 

 Only three nails need be used with tips. The strongest hold will 

 be obtained near the front of the foot, and nails there cramp the 

 foot less than they would do farther back. 



154. — Smiths pride themselves upon driving these nails as 

 far into the hoof as possible, and consequently as near as possible 

 to the quick. To an unthinking observer, this gives an appear- 

 ance of greater security to the shoe : but such appearance is 

 ■entirely deceptive. The practice is an exceedingly mischievous 

 one, besides being dangerous. 



To fully understand this, we must remember that the hoof is 

 grained like a piece of wood, with the grain running up and down, 

 as in a tree. Nails driven in the direction of the grain have not 

 nearly so good a hold as nails driven across it. But besides this 

 a nail driven far up the hoof can never be securely clinched. To 

 ■escape the quick at all, the last part of the nail's passage must 

 have been very near the outside of the hoof ; so that, when the 

 nail is turned down for clinching, it is turned over a thin, Aveak 

 strip of hoof, easily split out, and with the grain the wrong way 

 to support it at all. On the other hand, when the nail is brought 

 out within half-an-inch of the shoe, it takes a direction more 

 across the grain of the hoof, and the point can be clinched where 

 ■there is a great thickness of solid, hard hoof to rest it on. 

 Another great advantage in this short drive into the bottom of the 

 hoof is, that when the shoe is taken oflF, after a month's wear, and 

 the toe is again rasped down, the short nail holes will be nearly 

 rasped out, so that they will not weaken the hoof for another 

 nailing, nor form ventilators through which to evaporate the 

 natural moisture of the feet. 



