21 



when the point is feit by the finger, or makes its actual appearance, he 

 strikes more boldly tili the head is driven home to the shoe. The nail 

 having passed through the hoof, the shank or extremity of it is next turned 

 down and bent against the side of the hoof for safety, that the horse in 

 struggling or suddenly withdrawing his foot should nottear the clothesor 

 wound the thighs of the workman. In England, it is usual to see the door- 

 man perform the nailing on of the shoe by himself, unless with very heavy 

 draft horses, when he gets assistance; but in France I observe two are 

 generally occupied with this, one to hold the foot, and another to drive the 

 nails; and sometimes I have seen the smith's wife take a part in the labor, 

 by holding up the foot of the horse, while the other, nails it on: and in 

 Holland also, I noticed, that the greater number of horses, in order to 

 their being shod behind, were placed in a trevis and the bind foot was 

 lashed to the post. 



The nails being driven and turned down, he next proceeds to give 

 them all round a good smart hammering upon the head to fix them more 

 firmly in the shoe, and by holding the pincers to the shank of the nail 

 draws the shoe tighter against the hoof; this done, he wrings off the 

 shank or point of the nail and files the clinches with a rasp to an uniform 

 length, fileing away also a little of the hoof that they may lie the more 

 closely. Now, by reversing the Situation of his pincers and hammer, 

 and holding the former against the head of the nail, which prevents its 

 return, he beats down the clinches with his hammer and forces them into 

 the hoof. The clench is in part imbedded in the hoof; but if any part 

 projects, or there should be any irregularities, they are removed with the 

 rasp, and the process is rompleted. They then very commonly proceed 

 to rasping away the exterior of the hoof, to renew its surface, and give it 

 a fresh appearance, and by which they unwarrantably remove its very 

 necessary cuticular coat; a proceeding that ought always to be dispensed 

 with. 



Such is the detail of the actual practice of this art of shoeing horses, 

 which, as we set out with observing, " is in itself sufficiently simple, as a 

 view of the process would show, and also the fact of the facility with 

 which it is acquired;" but, faulty in principle, its pernicious consequences 

 ensue sooner or later, which the smiths, or indeed veterinarians, were 

 never before led rightly to consider or comprehend. 



I shall now turn my attention to a new and more agreeable subject; 



