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number of naiJs with the view of insuring the security of 

 the slioe ; but its effect is only to increase the evil. My 

 object is to show, that these shaky places, as they are called, 

 may be relieved by the omission of one or two of the nails 

 without endangering the security of the shoe. Suppose the 

 number employed to be seven, to gain such an end, they 

 might safely be reduced to five, which is the largest number 

 I have permitted to be placed in the fore shoes of any horse 

 I have seen shod during the last sixteen or seventeen years ; 

 but I would not ad\'ise the sudden adoption of this number, 

 where the habit of accurate fitting has not been in some degree 

 acquired, for, if from imperfect fitting of the shoe, misplace- 

 ment of the nails, neglect of removing in proper time, or 

 from any other cause the horse should chance to cast a shoe, 

 the whole blame would be attributed to the five nails ; and 

 the poor beast in all probabihty be doomed to eight or nine 

 for the remainder of his life. I can however after many years 

 experience confidently assert that five nails will retain a pro- 

 perly fitted shoe under all circumstances, not even excepting 

 hunting in a deep country. Several years ago, wlien I was, as 

 it were, feeling my way in this matter, the late Colonel Luttrell, 

 master of the Somersetshire fox hounds, mformed me, that 

 the horse which he rode most frequently, was shod vA\\i six 

 nails only, not one of which in consequence of liis cutting a good 

 deal was placed in the mner quarter, and that he experienced 

 no inconvenience whatever from the plan. If I had entertained 

 the smallest doubt about their efiiciency, it would have been 

 entirely removed on the arrival of the 13th Light Dragoons 

 in Exeter in 1845, when among the horses of that regiment 



