NECESSITY FOR NAILING. 131 



can be driven; whilst in the old system it was only necessai-y that he 

 should turn a ponderous mass after some standard pattern of his own 

 conception, which a few slashes of his knife sufficed to make the 

 obsequious but sufterii^ hoof conformable to. It is also to be borue 

 in mind that the Charliei' shoe, being composed of steel, involves 

 much more wear and tear of the tools used in its construction, espe- 

 cially of the rasp used in bevelling off its shai-p inside edge. Assum- 

 ing, however, that this shoe is put on by a man acquainted with the 

 construction of the hox^se's foot, with the hammer concentrated in 

 width of surface bearing to the insensible semicircular crust only, 

 and that the heels are not curved inwards and drawn too long, it is 

 physically impossible that such a shoe could cause corns. One of 

 your correspondents suggests that in certain instances the Charlier 

 shoe should be fastened on by three nails only, in order to avoid risks of 

 lameness from using more ; but I confess that I am at a loss to see 

 any reason for it, as the fewer the nails used the greater must be the 

 strain upon each ; and beside there is practically a necessity for nail- 

 ing the shoe at pretty short intervals, because if the horse do road 

 work and have not unusually perfect shoulders, the toe of the shoe 

 quickly wears thin, allowing the heels to expand beyond the dimen- 

 sions of the foot to which they had been originally adjusted, where 

 such parts of the shoe are not i-iveted in their original positions by 

 the nails. 



When upon the subject of the old system — which under, the cir- 

 cumstances referred to, would appear to be the better system for car- 

 riage horses driven over stony roads — I have made no Allusion to the 

 barbarous and cruel application of " heel cocks," as it is self-evident 

 that if the principles of the Charlier system possess no more virtue 

 than that which is involved in the mere question of superiority, 

 which has'led to expressions of opinions by your correspondents, such 

 appendages must needs be wrong, and that beyond any question. 

 Much has been well said and written against the cruelty of bearing 

 reins, and with happy results ; but if any of your readers should doubt 

 the cruelty practiced upon a London carriage horse, let him turn into 

 any one of the fashionable West-end forges, ask for an ordinary hind 

 shoe, such as is kept in stock for carriage horses, lay it on the ground, 



