THOMAS BLUN DEVIL ON SHOEING. 459 



than beneath. And when you drive, drive at the first 

 with soft strokes, and with a light hammer, until the nail 

 be somewhat entered. . . . The shoe standing straight 

 and just, drive in all the nails to the number of eight, four 

 on each side, so as the points of the nails may seem to 

 stand on the outside of the hoof, even and just one by 

 another, as it were in a circular line, and not out of order 

 like the teeth of a saw, whereof one is bent one way and 

 one another way. That done, cut them off and clinch 

 them so as the clinches may be hidden in the hoof, which 

 by cutting the hoof with the point of a knife, a little be- 

 neath the appearing of the nail, you may easily do. That 

 done with a rape (rasp) pare the hoof round, so as the 

 edge of the shoe may be seen round about.' 



He always recommends free paring, and for rough and 

 brittle hoofs 'plenty of rasping on the outside to make them 

 smooth, and the shoe put on with nine nails — four inside 

 and five out.' 



For the contracted or hoof-bound foot, he recom- 

 mends parking the sole thin and opening the heels well, 

 and putting on a shoe like a half moon. 



Concerning shoes with calkins, he quotes Caesar 

 Fiaschi as opposed to their use, and as approving of the 

 Turkish mode of shoeing for mountain travelling. ' Not- 

 withstanding, some never think their horses to be well 

 shod, unless all the shoes be made with calkins, either 

 single or double.' 



Of the shoes with rings, shown in Fiaschi's work, he 

 says they were first invented to make a horse lift his feet 

 high, but that they caused a horse pain on hard roads, 

 especially those horses which had not sound feet. Blun- 



