208 HORSE-SHOEING. 



to be used when the services of the horse are not likely to be in 

 great demand for any length of time, or when the frost promises 

 to be very transient. They are best adapted for saddle and car- 

 riage-horses. To prevent injury to the hoof, and at the same 

 time to obtain all the advantages of frost-nails, I have often, in 

 the winter-season, had extra holes punched in the shoes — one at 

 the extremity of each heeL and one on each side of the toe. 

 These nail-holes were large, and were stamped so obliquely out- 

 ward that the frost-nails, when the occasion required them, could 

 be passed through them and lapped firmly over the edge of the 

 shoe without interfering with the hoof. They may be made alto- 

 gether of soft steel, the heads alone being tempered. I have 

 found this plan most convenient and effective, as the hoof and 

 shoe are not disturbed, and the nails can be renewed as often as 

 may be necessary. 



The usual plan is to remove the shoes from the hoofs and give 

 them sharpened calkins, and it may be toe-pieces also sharp. 

 This is not a good fashion if it has to be often repeated, as the 

 hoofs are damaged by the frequent nailing, the horses are apt to 

 be lamed, and the shoes to become loose. It is for the time being, 

 however, very effective. When the calks and toe-pieces are only 

 made of iron, and if the ground be not covered with a sufficient 

 layer of snow to protect them to some extent, they soon become 

 blunted, and the shoes then require to be taken off and the pro- 

 cess repeated. To remedy this, if time permits, it is an excellent 

 plan to weld in the calkin, or toe-piece, or, on the face of the 

 shoe, a piece of steel (Figs. 24, 25 a), which, when sharpened and 

 tempered, lasts a very considerable time. 



In sharpening the calkins, regard must be had to their situ- 

 ation — that on the outside heel may be flattened across the branch 

 of the shoe (Fig. 26), but that on the inside must be drawn as 



