134 HORSESHOEING. 



there can be little doubt that the nail is responsible for the dam- 

 age. Remove the shoe by drawing each nail separately and 

 carefully. Examine the nails with reference to their direction 

 and size, as well as to staining with blood, blood-serum, or pus. 

 Immediately after removing the shoe, look for the point of en- 

 trance of each nail into the hoof, and if a nail-hole be found 

 upon the edge of the sole instead of in the white line, it is highly 

 probable that the nail which passed in at that place pressed upon 

 the sensitive tissues of the foot. Every nail-hole should then be 

 searched by passing a clean new nail into it and pressing its 

 point towards the soft tissues at various depths ; any indication 

 of pain caused by this act is pretty sure proof of nailing. It 

 stands to reason that the character of the nail-holes in the shoe 

 should be closely examined. 



Treatment. — When the foot has sustained an ordinary simple 

 prick with a nail, the latter should be left out and the hole well 

 filled with wax. As a rule, no serious results follow. In severe 

 direct nailing the entire shoeing should be most carefully exam- 

 ined, and only after everything is found to be right, and the shoe 

 fits in such a manner that the nails can only penetrate the wall 

 from the white line, can it be regarded as correct. The offend- 

 ing nail-hole is then to be closed with wax. According to the 

 intensity of the wound we may expect a more or less pronounced 

 inflammation of the pododerm, and this is to be combated by 

 resting the animal and cooling the foot. 



If the wound is clean and recent, enlarging the opening in the 

 horn by cutting and boring can have no reasonable object; the 

 wound by such an act will not be made smaller, but larger. 



Frequently, however, the wound is not observed or suspected 

 until the pain has become very intense (indirect nailing, nail- 

 pressure) ; in such cases the offending nail when withdrawn is 

 apt to be covered with pus or a dark, thin, ill-smelKng liquid. 

 In such a case the hquid, whatever its nature may be, must be 

 given free escape. In order to accomplish this it is entirely suffi- 

 cient to cut away a section of the wall from the nail-hole out- 



