292 
REVIEW — THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
I was employing seven nails in each fore and eight in each hind 
shoe. I then withdrew one nail from each shoe, reducing the 
number to six in the fore and seven in the hind shoes; and finding, 
at the end of a year, that the shoes of all the horses had been as 
firmly retained as formerly, I withdrew another nail from each 
shoe, leaving only five in the fore shoes and six in the hind. I 
found, however, that six nails would not retain the hind shoe of a 
carriage horse, without allowing it sometimes to shift; so I returned 
to seven in the hind shoes, and have continued to employ that 
number ever since ; but five have retained all the fore shoes as 
firmly, during the whole of the last year and a half, as six had 
previously done. 
“ I have invariably directed and superintended the whole opera- 
tion of shoeing during these experiments, and have always been 
very careful to mark that the nails were not driven high up in the 
crust, but brought out as soon as possible; and that they were very 
lightly driven up before the clenches were turned down, and not, 
as is generally the case, forced up with all the power the smith 
can bring to bear upon them with his hammer. I mention these 
circumstances to shew that my object really was to ascertain how 
little would retain a shoe, and to what extent the foot might be 
relieved from the evil of unnecessary restraint — a matter sometimes 
of great moment, and at all times desirable. 
“ The clenches should not be rasped away too fine, but turned 
down broad and firm. The practice of rasping the whole surface 
of the hoof after the clenches have been turned down should never 
be permitted : it destroys the covering provided by Nature as a 
protection against the too rapid evaporation of the moisture of the 
hoof, and causes the horn to become dry and brittle. 
“ Two of the horses alluded to above, worked for some time 
with only four nails in their fore shoes. 
“ I have detailed these experiments with a view to expose the 
groundless nature of the fear that expects to cast a shoe at every 
step, unless it be held to the foot by eight or nine nails driven high 
into the crust. If the presence of a nail in the crust were a matter 
of no moment, and two or three more than are necessary were 
merely useless , there would be no great reason to interfere with 
this practice of making ‘ assurance doubly sure ;* but it is far other- 
wise : — the nails separate the fibres of the horn, and they never by 
any chance become united again, but continue asunder and un- 
closed, until by degrees they grow down with the rest of the hoof, 
and are ultimately, after repeated shoeings, removed by the knife. 
“ If the clenches should happen to rise, they must be replaced 
without delay, as they impart to the nails a freedom of motion 
