478 THE HORSE. 



three nails only — two placed on the outside and one on the in- 

 side. 



It is very nearly seven years since I liave had more than 

 three nails in the fore shoe of any one of my six horses, and 

 they are all shod with thick felt and stopping ; some of them do 

 not require the felt, but, having begun it as an experiment 

 some years ago, and finding no inconvenience from it, I have 

 gone on with it. In a former work I published several cases 

 of horses having done a variety of work with only three nails in 

 each fore shoe ; and I may now add another, which happened 

 to a horse of my own last year, and which ought to set the 

 question at rest, supposing any doubt still to exist as to the 

 capability of three nails to hold a shoe. The horse I allude to 

 is twenty-eight years old ; he is a high stepper, and impetuous 

 in company, and has large flat feet, which grow horn very spar- 

 ingly, so that it is quite necessary to protect his feet by a stout 

 shoe with felt and stopping under it. He happens to be a 

 particularly nice lady's horse for one who has plenty of nerve 

 and can ride well ; and I lent him to join in a large riding party 

 of ladies and gentlemen, on a visit at a friend's house, who took 

 long daily rides in a very hilly district, regardless of pace, 

 over commons covered with heath, furze, and stones, through 

 rough stony lanes, and in every variety of ground ; and, al- 

 though his shoes had been on ten days when I sent him away, 

 he returned to me at the end of five weeks with his shoes worn 

 out certainly, but firm on his feet, and the clinches all close. 

 I mention this last circumstance because it is a proof that his 

 shoes had been put on with proper care ; for whenever you find 

 a clinch rise you may be certain that you have done something 

 wrong ; either the crust did not bear upon the shoe all round, 

 or the nail holes did not pass straight through the slioe, or the 

 heads of the nails did not fill the bottom of the holes. Any 

 one of these things may cause a clinch to rise; and a risen 

 clinch is a sure sign of cai-eless shoeing. 



I may mention, as further proof of the sufficiency of three 

 nails to keep on a shoe, that Colonel Key, who commands the 

 15th Hussars, at present stationed at Exeter, has four horses 

 shod with three nails only in each fore shoe. Finding how my 

 horses were shod, he was induced to try the plan upon his hack, 



