ON SHOEING. 49 



ing at that point is the neck being made too thick 

 for the upper part of the countersunk hole. When 

 this is the case, there is a difficulty in driving the 

 nail home, and the neck is frequently so injured in 

 the operation, that it breaks off when subjected to 

 the strain and jar of work. 



Whenever the head is much battered in the opera- 

 tion of driving a nail home, the farrier may be pretty 

 sm'e that it has become injured in the neck, and he 

 should draw it and substitute another. When the 

 neck of a nail is sound, it seldom breaks during a 

 month's wear. 



On the other hand, if a nail is too small for the 

 countersunk hole, it gets but little hold, becomes 

 loose, and by working about soon breaks. 



A nail of the proper size will not go through the 

 countersink by mere pressure, but requires some, 

 though not excessive hammering. A farrier should 

 have a variety of punches suited to different sized 

 shoes. 



An exception to the general rule of adapting nails 

 to the size and weight of the shoes, and also as 

 regards the position of the nails, occurs in the case 

 of flat-footed horses. Under the head of Lamini- 

 tis, it will be recommended that such feet should 

 be shod with shoes of a broad web, but on account 

 of the weakness of the crust it is desirable to use 

 fine thin nails. Additional care is of course required 

 to watch these nails, and to remove them if neces- 



4 



