BEST METHOD OF NAILING. 27 



tip, when sufficiently heavy to stand the strain, the better it is. For 

 seventeen years I have followed the plan of nailing from the inside 

 of the wall, and in Horse Portraiture, and in articles written 

 prior to the publication of that work, haverecommended that system, 

 and given my reasons for the pi-eference. At that time I thought it 

 original with me, but have since found that it was the French 

 manner of nailino-, and for centuries back the Arabs fastened the 

 shoes on their horses in that way. The form of the nail which the 

 Arabs use compels the nailing through the walls, as the shape of it 

 i-enders it impossible to drive it so close to the edge as our black- 

 smiths do; it is more like the old-fashioned clinch-nail, which the 

 country blacksmith of forty years ago made by hand, and the wall is 

 perforated by it at an aciite angle. 



Dr. May hew, an English veterinarian, has show^n the advantages 

 of this plan, and his advice was written about the same time I 

 adopted it, but of which I was ignorant until a few years ago. It 

 does not require long argument to prove the advantages of this 

 system of nailing. The wall of the hoi-se's foot being formed of 

 thin layers of horn, agglutinated together, a wedge-shaped piece of 

 iron, which the horse-nail is, when forced with the " gi-ain " has a 

 tendency to split them apart ; and how often do we see the whole 

 side of the horse's hoof torn off and clinging to the shoe] 



Driven from the inner side through the layers, the wall is per- 

 forated and the clinch forms a rivet, which makes the foot actually 

 stronger. 



The liability to "prick" the foot is very great when the nail is 

 stai-ted from the edge and has to be driven on a cui-\'e until it " gets 

 a high hold," and if the sensitive tissues are not wounded, oftentimes 

 it comes so near that the pressure makes the animal lame. 



A lower hold, with the whole strength of the wall, is far more ef- 

 fective, and since following the practice my horses have retained their 

 shoes much better. With the tip and four nails I have never had one 

 come off xmtil it was worn entirely thi^ough. While figure 1 repre- 

 sents too long a ti]) for the race-horse, it is the right length for a trot- 

 ter which requires a toe-weight, as in that case the space between the 

 second and third nail is required to hold the strap which secures the 



