of turning them thicker at the heels than in the front 

 of the shoe. This is wrong; the front part of the 

 shoe wears away the fastest, therefore, as the foot is 

 supposed to be level when the shoe is adjusted, this 

 irregular wear is gradually throwing it out of level. 

 By having the shoe of even thickness when first placed 

 on the foot, this irregular wear is not productive of 

 much evil, as far as the shoe itself is responsible. 



Calkins, How to Proportion. 



Calkins are rarely needed for the shoes of our light 

 harness and carriage horses, for either foot— that is, 

 not even for the hind ones— except for the snow path 

 in winter. When calkins are used on the shoes they 

 should be placed as follows: The toe calkins, all of 

 them, back across the inside of the web of the shoe, 

 and they should not be made too long, from side to 

 side, never over one and one-half inches in length. 

 They should not be made too deep (say about one-half 

 of an inch for the toe calkins and three-eighths [%"] of 

 an inch for those at the heels) ; the toe calkins 

 should always be made deeper in proportion than 

 those for the heels, say as about four (4) parts of depth 

 at the toe to three (3) parts at the heels; that is, the 

 depth of the shoes, calkins included, must be, at 

 the heels, about three-fourths of that of the front. 

 This will assist in equalizing the wear and prove a 

 strong feature in the tendency to keep the ground lay 

 of the feet level. 



Proper 3Ianner of Nail Driving. 



As a general rule to be observed in nailing the shoes 

 to the feet the nails should never be driven too far 

 back— except in some case or cases that will be men- 

 tioned in this volume— they should never be driven 

 into the wall of the foot back of a point just a shade 

 in front of the line of the wings of the coffin or pedal 

 bone. Nails driven back of this point will bind the 

 foot together at the only point where Nature has ar- 

 ranged to give it a spring, or easement, to the blow on 

 the ground. These are general ideas of nail driving 

 to govern in the ordinary routine of horshoeing; special 

 cases will be treated by themselves. 



16 



