110 



HORSESHOEING. 



8. Nail-Holes (Fig. 109, d). — The importance of the nail- 

 holes, as regards their character^ number, distribution, depth, 

 and direction, cannot be over-estimated, because by the nails 

 which ai*e driven through them the stability of the shoe upon 

 the hoof should be maintained without injuring the sensitive 

 structures, splitting the homy wall, or immoderately interfering 

 with the elasticity of the foot. Each nail-hole should taper 

 uniformly from the ground to the hoof-surf ac© (funnel-shaped). 

 For a medium-weight shoe six nail-holes are sufficient, while 

 for all heavy shoes, especially those with toe- and heel-calks, 



Fig. 111. 



Fig. 112. 



Swiss military shoe, hoof-surface. 



Swiss military shoe, ground-surface. 



eight are indicated ; however, it should by no means be said that 

 every nail-hole should contain a nail. Hind shoes usually 

 require one more nail-hole than front shoes, yet seldom more 

 than eight. In front 'shoes the nail-holes should be placed in 

 the anterior half of the shoe (Figs. 107 and 108), while in 

 hind shoes they are to be placed in the anterior two-thirds of 

 the shoe (Fig. 116), and in both cases so distributed that the 

 toe shall be without nail-holes, except in those shoes in which it 

 iaay be desirable to omit the nail-holes in an entire branch 



