32 TREATISE ON HORSE-SHOEING. 



NAILING ON THE SHOE. 



If the nails are of a proper sliape^ 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, keep the nail upright and drive it straight: 

 it must come out in the right place, low down in 

 the crust, without the possibility of wounding the 

 sensitive parts of the foot. The 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 

 clench. The clenches should be short and broad, 

 and not thinned by rasping away any of their sub- 

 stance, 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 

 hammered down; for the sharp steel rasp is very 

 apt to cut through the soft iron clench just where 

 it turns down, and leave the appearance of a clench, 

 when in truth, it has been cut off at the bend 



