IMPEOVED METHOD OF SHOEING. 95 



doing injury. The clinches " cannot raise, " as the heads 

 of the nails are completely protected by the swedged rim. 

 There is a small clip at the toe with the additional se- 

 curity of a nail driven in that strongest part of the foot ; 

 three nails on each side giving ample assurance that it 

 cannot be displaced. These nails only go back as far as 

 the widest part of the foot, leaving the quarters unob- 

 structed in their motion. The hind shoes differ in being 

 a great deal lighter, and in place of the swedged rim are 

 so concave that they have an angle or bend of about forty- 

 five degrees. The crease is cut in the rim, and when the 

 nails are driven they are filed away till the whole shoe is 

 left so smooth that if even a horse "grabs," it slips off 

 the quarter without doing an injury. The back part of 

 the web of the hind shoe is what gives the wound when 

 a horse cuts his quarters, and when turned over the horn 

 of the anvil as is the customary plan is almost as sharp 

 as a knife. You can satisfy yourself that this is the part 

 of the shoe that does the mischief, by observing the wound, 

 which is always triangular, the point being the place where 

 first struck, and the flap or torn skin falling back and at- 

 tached at the lower end or base of the triangle. But still 

 the most conclusive proof is, that with the shoe made as I 

 have described, with no toe calk, sharp web or nail heads, 

 there never will be a wound. The quarter may be bruised 

 by a blow from the iron, but even that will be mitigated 

 by the smooth surface. There are, of course, horses that 

 could not be shod in this way, from their feet being dis- 

 eased or defective some requiring round or bar shoes, 

 others with a gutta-percha or leathern sole, and still 

 others with a great part of the horn and shoe cut away 

 to guard against the result of faulty action arising from 

 wrong shape, &c., &c. 



A natural, healthy foot is the one I am now directing 

 to be shod, so as to do the work in the best manner re- 



