100 



SHOEING. 



coronet^ tke foot's incasement is recognized as unhealthy; but in the 

 forge, the application of such facts is, by most smiths, utterly ignored. 



The untutored Arab, however, takes advantage of the united proper- 

 ties of the horn. In warm countries the horse's hoof grows strong and 

 thick. The uninstructed Asiatic allows the wall to descend half an inch 

 below the sole, and right through the entire of this portion of projecting 

 hoof he drives the nails which secure the shoe. Proceeding thus, he 

 does not injure the foot by the insertion of foreign bodies through its 

 more brittle substance, while he secures the united resistance and tough 

 qualities of the complex covering of the foot. 



THE MODE OP FASTENINQ THE ARABIAN 

 SHOE TO THE HOOF OF THE HORSE. 



FRACTURED CONDITION OF THE HORN, CONSE- 

 QUENT UPON DRIVING NAILS THROUGH THE 

 BRITTLE OUTER CRUST OF THE WALL. 



The English smith, on the contrary, by ranging the holes for the fas- 

 tenings round the edge of the shoe, drives the nails only into the harder 

 kind of horn, and transfixes the crust for a considerable distance. The 

 English shoeing nail is meant to pierce only the black or outward sub- 

 stance of the wall. This may, seemingly, afford the better hold ; but it 

 also offers the more dangerous dependence. There is, likewise, the peril 

 to be braved of pricking the sensitive foot, should the nail turn a little 

 to one side — an accident which not unfrequently happens. There is, 

 moreover, another danger, namely, that which the forge calls driving a 

 nail "too fine;" that is, forcing it near the white horn rather than send- 

 ing it directly through the center of the narrow dark crust. There re- 

 mains to be enumerated a third peril. Horses, with thin walls, present 

 difficulties to the shoeing smith. He is afraid of either pricking the foot 

 or driving the nail "too fine;" should the last accident ensue, the nail 

 will, upon the animal being worked, bulge inward, will provoke acute 

 lameness, often causing pus to be generated. To avoid these evils, he 

 points his nails outward ; and, by so doing, not vmseldom induces the 

 harsh outer crust to crack, to split up, or to chip off. To such an extent 



