470 



THE HORSE. 



block the opening made in " back-holding " the shoe, and keep 

 the shoe hrnily in its place until it is quite worn out. 



If you compare the two nails I have drawn, you will at 

 once see which promises the iBrmer hold. 



Your nails should be made of the very 

 Figure 9. j^yg^ nail-rods you can get, and they should 



not be cooled too quickl}', but be left spread 

 about to cool by degrees ; the longer in rea- 

 son they are cooling, the tougher they will 

 become. They should not, however, be al- 

 lowed to lie in a heap to cool ; the mass keeps 

 in the heat too long, and makes them almost 

 as brittle as if they had been cooled too sud- 

 denly. 



Nailing on the Shoe. — If the nails are 

 of a proper shape, the holes straight through 

 the shoe, and the shoe fits the foot, it requires 

 very little skill to nail it on ; only put the 

 point of the nail in the middle of the hole, 

 keej) the nail upright and drive it sti*aight ; it 

 must come out in the right place, low down 

 in the crust, without the possibility of wounding the sensitive 

 parts of the foot. Tlie shank of the nail will pass straight 

 through the substance of the crust and gain a good firm hold of 

 it, leaving you the strongest part from which to form a clinch. 

 The clinches should be short and broad, and not thinned by 

 rasping away any of their substance, but hammered at once 

 into a notch made in the hoof under each, and the rasp should 

 never be allowed to go over them after they have been ham- 

 mered down ; for the sharp steel rasp is very apt to cut through 

 the soft iron clinch just where it turns down, and leave the ap- 

 pearance of a clinch, when in truth it has been cut off at the 

 bend, and the loose end only remains buried in the notch in the 

 hoof. You will do good by rasping helow the clinches, because 

 you will remove the horn that has been destroyed by the former 

 nails ; but on no account ever use the rasp above the clinches. 

 If you do, you will tear off the thin outer covering of the hoof, 

 wliich is placed there for the purpose of retaining the natural 

 moisture and keeping the horn tough ; and if you rasp it away 



