214 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[chap. 



841. Fitting the Shoe.— After the foot has 

 been prepared as described in Sec. 834 et seqq., 

 the type of shoe most suitable is chosen, and 

 heated to a bright red heat. It is then placed 

 close to the under surface of the foot to ascertain 

 approximately how its shape requires to be 

 altered to fit the foot. It is bent as nearly 

 as possible to the shape of the foot on the anvil, 

 and again tried. This is repeated until it seems 

 to fit well. The heels of the shoe are now cut 

 off to the right length. The contraction that takes 

 place when the iron cools must, of course, be 

 allowed for. Each time the hot shoe is compared 

 with the foot it should not be held against the 

 foot, or it will burn the foot too much ; but 

 after the shoe has been made to fit well, and 

 the nail holes made, it is heated to a dull red 

 heat, and held for a few seconds only against 

 the foot, thus momentarily burning the uneven 

 portions of the foot away, making the fit more 

 perfect. This also has the beneficial effect of 

 making the contact surface waterproof. Con- 

 tinued burning must never be allowed, as it 

 damages the structure of the foot. 



After this final fitting, of course, the shoe 

 must not be altered in shape in any way. On 

 no account must the red-hot shoe be used to 

 burn down the wall, as is not uncommonly done 

 by lazy farriers. The inside of the foot may be 

 permanently damaged thereby ; at any rate, the 

 hoof will be damaged. 



842. Nails.— Only sufficient nails should be 

 used to hold the shoe in place. This number, of 

 course, will depend on the size and weight of 

 the shoe, the kind of work, the action of the 

 horse, the toughness of the wall, the accurate 

 fitting of the shoe, and whether the wall has 

 been rasped and the clenches interfered with, as 

 is so frequently the case. Nails must never be 

 near the heels nor at the toes. 



Five nails (three on the outside and two on 

 the inside) are sufficient for the fore-shoes, and 

 six (three on each side) for the hind-shoes. 

 Heavy draught horses usually have seven (one 

 more on each side) on the fore-shoes and eight 

 on the hind-shoes. It is far better to use few 

 nails, and to examine the nails and shoes care- 

 fully every day, than to fill the foot with nails. 

 The fewer nails used the better will be the con- 

 dition of the foot. Nails must be of the toughest 

 iron procurable, and should stand being bent in 

 a vice backwards and forwards four or five times 

 without breaking. Most nails are now machine 

 made, and are very good ones too ; consequently, 

 making nails by hand is veiy little practised. 



The holes in the shoe should be made fairly 

 small, and the nail should fit exactly into each 

 hole. Nails should, therefore, be fitted to each 

 hole before the shoe is put in place. If the nails 

 are loose in the shoe, however tightly they may 

 be clenched, there will be certain movement 

 between the shoe and foot. 



843. I strongly recommend Alfred W. 

 Knight's (of 4 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London) 

 patent safety horse nails. From e.xperience, I 

 find the chief advantages they possess over the 

 ordinary flat nail are : that the shank of the nail 

 is curved in cross section, i.e. concave on the 

 side towards the centre of the foot and convex 

 on the outside ; that with these nails there is 

 no necessity to bend the nails lengthways, as 

 is often done with flat nails ; that the clenches, 

 having ribs on each side, are extremely strong ; 

 that there is never any necessity to make a 

 notch under the clench, and the nails need not 

 be clenched so tightly ; and that the dangers of 

 nail pressure are very greatly lessened. The 

 nails are slightly more expensive, but the slight 

 difference is easily outweighed by the saving in 

 nails and the lessened chance of losing shoes, 

 and they are far more humane. 



The R.S.P.G.A. says about these nails, "There 

 is no necessity for curving or bending longways. 

 The inward bending pressure from the flat nail, 

 that often causes lameness, is avoided, and the 

 horse works with more comfort and freedom." 



844. The nail holes in the shoe must not 

 be too near the toe, because the heads will wear 

 off too quickly, nor must they be too near the 

 heels, as explained in Sec. 837. (P. 1386, c.) 

 The nail holes must be a little nearer the outside 

 than the inside of the web. 



The fit of the nail is made more secure if 

 the holes are countersunk with a rectangular 

 counter-sinker on the ground surface of the shoe. 

 In fullered shoes the holes should be counter- 

 sunk just a little, and the heads of the nails, as 

 a rule, are buried deeper into the web, the fuller- 

 ing allowing for this. There is not much object 

 in leaving the heads of the nails projecting below 

 the shoe, as they so rapidly wear off. 



If rose-headed nails (P. 139) are used, they 

 project, of course, farther out and, while they 

 last, act as a protection against slipping. The 

 ordinary countersunk-headed nail is the best. It 

 should be fitted practically flush with the lower 

 surface of the shoe in a fullered shoe, and only 

 project about one-eighth of an inch with a non- 

 fullered shoe. 



Fullering is often objected to because it 

 lessens the wearing surface of the shoe, and it 

 also causes the nail heads to fit less securely on 

 account of there being only two sides of the 

 head, instead of four, in contact with the shoe. 

 The fore-shoes of saddle horses are usually 

 fullered. 



845. Before punching the holes in the shoe, 

 any weak part in the hoof should be noticed, 

 because nails must only be driven in where the 

 wall is perfectly sound. The nails must be 

 driven in with the bevel side of the point 

 (P. 139) inside, i.e. towards the centre of the 

 foot. This prevents the nail from being driven 

 into the foot and causing a " prick." The centre 



