Hoof nail

“ As soon as a nail is driven its point should be immediately bent down towards the shoe in order to prevent injuries. The heads of all the nails should then be gone over with a hammer and driven down solidly into the nail-holes, the hoof being meanwhile supported in the left hand. Pincers are then held under the bent nails and they are more sharply bent by light blows upon the nail-heads. ”

“ As these holes cannot possibly grow down and be removed under three shoeings, it will be found, even with a small number of nails, that three times that number of holes must exist in the hoof all the while; and as they are often, from various causes, extended into each other, they necessarily keep it in a brittle, unhealthy state, and materially interfere with the future nail-hold. As the position of the hind-foot, and the nature of its office, render it less liable to injury than the fore-foot, consequently, it less frequently lames ”

“ Put two nails in the shoe on each side, and both forward of the quarters, and one in the toe, directly in front of the foot. Let those on the sides be an inch apart, then you will be sure not to cut and tear the foot. Let the nails and nail-holes be small, for they will then aid in saving the foot. It will still further aid in saving it by letting the nails run well up into the hoof, for that keeps the shoe steadier on the foot. The hoof is just as thick to within an inch of the top, and is generally sounder, and of a better substance, than it is at the bottom. ”

“ Each nail-hole should taper uniformly from the ground to the hoof-surface (funnel-shaped) . For a medium-weight shoe six nail-holes are sufficient, while for all heavy shoes, especially those with toe- and heel-calks, eight are indicated; however, it should by no means be said that every nail-hole should contain a nail. Hind shoes usually require one more nail-hole than front shoes, yet seldom more than eight. ”

“ Another very serious complaint is a brittleness of hoof, which may be generally be detected by the marks of the fragile parts detaching themselves from every old nail-hole. This kind of foot, particularly in hot weather, breaks away, till there is no room for the nails to hold, when the horse, of course, becomes useless. ”

“ The nails on the fingers and toes of man, if not shortened by abrasion from rough, manual labor, or cut and filed artificially, will grow to great length, and as they grow, curl inward and around the tips of the fingers and toes, attempting to form, what the toe-nail of the horse has formed, a hoof. ”

“ One of the nails yet remains in the shoe, but the head is much worn; though sufficient is left to prove that it was of the flattened, high, and wide T pattern. The shank is almost square like a carpenter's nail, and fills the hole; and at a distance of only 1/4 inch from the foot surface of the shoe it bends suddenly forward as if to form a clench on the outside of the hoof. The excessive thickness of the nail, and the very short hold it had of the hoof, are easily accounted for. ”

“ In its present elaborate form, the hoof of a horse is the most perfect instrument of support which has been devised in the animal kingdom to uphold a large and swiftly moving animal in its passage over the ground. The original toe-nail, and the neighboring soft parts connected with it, have been modified into a structure which in an extraordinary manner combines solidity with elasticity, so that it may strike violent blows upon the hard surface of the earth without harm. ”

“ Each foot now has but a single toe. The nail has spread around firmly and heavily, until it has become a splendidly developed hoof, permitting the animal to travel with speed over firm and often stony ground. The side toes have disappeared completely from the outside of the horse's leg, although upon removing the skin it is easy to find the long splints, which are the remnants of toes, which have not yet quite disappeared. ”

“ If we take extreme cases, such as the nail of the thumb in Man, the hoof of a Horse, and the claw of a Cat, it is easy to distinguish the three kinds of phalangeal horny coverings. But the differences become extinguished as we pass from these to related types. The nail of the little finger in Man approaches the claw-like form; and the hoofs of the Lama are almost claws in the sharpness of their extremities. On the whole it may be said that claws and hoofs embrace the bone which they cover, while nails lie only upon its dorsal surface. ”

“ The hoof of the horse corresponds to the nail or claw of other mammals, but is so constructed as to form a complete and solid case to the expanded termination of the toe, giving a firm basis of support formed of a non-sensitive substance, which is continually renewed by the addition of material from within, as its surface wears away by friction. ”

“ It is evident that the Hoof must suffer most severely by such a continued and repeated perforation with the Nails; so that if a Frost should happen to last a Month or two, it is probable there would be scarcely horn enough left to nail a Shoe on with safety. When Frosting is required, I have found that by Steeling the Heels, and if a Draft Horse, the Toes also, that they will last considerably longer, and consequently diminish the frequency of Driving Nails. A much shorter Rough will answer, and the usual head will not need to be so much altered.—Goodwin on Shoeing Horses, 8vo. ”

“ Where caries of the coffin bone, etc., follow the injury the treatment recommended for these complications in punctured wounds of the foot must be resorted to.
PUNCTURED WOUNDS OF THE FOOT.
Of all the injuries to which the foot of the horse is liable, none are more common than punctured wounds, and none are more serious than these may be when involving the more important organs within the hoof. A nail is the most common instrument by which the injury is inflicted, yet wounds may happen from glass, wire, knives, sharp pieces of rock, etc. ”

“ They are not driven through the hoof like ordinary nails, but through the shoe only, which is prepared for their reception at the time of fitting. A shoe to carry frost-nails is fitted a little wider than usual at the heels and has at its extremities, or more often at its outer extremities, countersunk holes stamped and directed outwards so that the frost-nail can be safely driven through by anyone and its shank turned down over the shoe. There is a difficulty in firmly securing them, they are apt to work loose and then become bent and useless. ”

“ HOOF BOUND OR TENDER FEET Never have the feet spread at the heels, nor rasped about the nail holes; use the liquid, and apply it according to directions. For hoof bound or tender feet, apply it all around the top of the hoof down one inch every day. First have a stiff shoe on the foot, and cleanse the cut or cork. Never cut or burn for it.
359. HOOF LIQUID Take of linseed or neatsfoot oil, 1/2 a pint; turpentine, 4 oz; oil of tar, 6 oz; origanum, 3 oz; mix and shake well together. ”

“ The shoe is rolled without a heel calk, so that the frog-pressure may be readily secured without heating and drawing the iron:—the nail holes are punched so that the nail furnished by us with the shoe may be driven, without the use of the pritchel to punch out the holes. The shoe, being made of the best quality of iron, may be bent cold to adapt it to the shape of the hoof. ”

“ A native smith, unless he has been shown how, never knows how to turn down the point of the nail after it has been driven through the hoof to form the clench; he never cuts off the superfluous part, but turns it round in a curl with the pincers, and, needless to say, this is exceedingly likely to cause brushing. ”

“ The chief distinction between the feet of the different nail-walkers is the number of toes whose nails form the hoof. Fig. 5 A shows us that the pig has four toes, but only two touch the ground and make the hoof ”

“ The bearing surfaces of the foot and shoe should be as nearly approximated as possible, else the hoof will be bruised and the shoe soon loosened. The holes being further from the edge, allows the nails to take a deeper and lower hold than is usually given them; the direction of the nails is more nearly across the grain or layers of horn, causing less splitting of its substance, thereby securing a firmer hold upon the foot. ”

“ Even with a correctly fitted shoe, and with a normal foot, tight-nailing may occur as a result of sheer carelessness on the part of the smith.
Symptoms.—Possibly the animal returns from the forge sound. It is on the following day, as a rule, that evidence of the injury is given by the animal coming out from the stable lame. In a well-marked case the foot is warmer to the hand than its fellow, and percussion over the wall will sometimes reveal the particular nail that is the cause of the trouble. ”

“ At this point it is due to the blacksmith to say that, considering how thin the walls of some feet are, the uneasiness of many horses while shoeing, the ease with which a nail is diverted from its course by striking an old piece of nail left in the wall, or from the nail itself splitting, the wonder is not that so many horses are pricked or nails driven "too close," but rather that many more are not so injured. ”

“ The foot should be trimmed but lightly, always remembering that in a foot of this description the horn, in addition to being brittle, is generally abnormally thin. Jagged or partly broken pieces should be removed, and the bearing surface rendered as level as possible. The foot should be carefully examined before punching the nail-holes in the shoe, and the nail-holes afterwards placed so as to come opposite the soundest portions of horn. The nails themselves should be as thin as is consistent with durability, and should be driven as high up as possible. ”

“ Suspicion of nailing should be entertained if the shoeing be recent, the hoof appear too small in relation to the body-weight, the walls have been thinned by rasping or have been broken away, or if the nails have been driven too high or very irregularly. ”

“ It is impossible for either a stocking or a shoe to fit nicely, unless the toe-nails be kept in proper order. Now, in cutting the toe-nails there is, as in everything else, a right and a wrong way. The right way of cutting a toe-nail is to cut it straight—in a straight line. The wrong way is to cut the corners of the nail—to round the nail, as it is called. ”

“ If a horse wounds its foot by treading on a nail, a Suffolk groom will invariably preserve the nail, clean it, and grease it every day, to prevent the foot from festering. Similarly Cambridgeshire labourers think that if a horse has run a nail into its foot, it is necessary to grease the nail with lard or oil and put it away in some safe place, or the horse will not recover. ”

“ Every nail should pass through sound horn, and a short thick hold of the wall is better than a long thin one. A foot allowed to grow strong in the manner I have described, will suffer no inconvenience in having the nails driven well home in the shoe. Every nail should form a part of the shoe, and scarcely project above it; and when all have been firmly wedged in, they should be tightly 'drawn up' by hammer and pincers. Nothing then remains to be done but to bend down, or 'clench,' the small portion of the nail that remains on the outer face of the crust, after the point has been twisted off. ”

“ Should the nail adjoining the position already pronounced to be tender have come out at a higher point than the others, it may be assumed that at a lower position in its course through the horn it has gone near the sensitive structures without actually penetrating the horny box, and that in the course of a day or two the sensitive structures involved will accommodate themselves to the pressure thus inflicted.
If, on the other hand, symptoms of tight-nailing show themselves in an animal with good sound feet, then there is no objection to be raised against having the shoe at once removed. ”

“ A good nail should have no shouldering at all, but be made with a plain and square neck, so as it may justly fit and fill the piercing-hole of the shoe. . . . The shanks of the nails should be somewhat flat, and the points sharp, without hollowness or flaw, and stiffer towards the head above, than beneath. And when you drive, drive at the first with soft strokes, and with a light hammer, until the nail be somewhat entered. ”

“ The toe-nails do not grow so fast as the finger-nails, but they should be looked after and trimmed at least once a fortnight. They are much more subject to irregularity of growth than the finger-nails, owing to [Pg 370] their confined position. If the nails show a tendency to grow in at the sides, the feet should be bathed in hot water, pieces of lint introduced beneath the parts with an inward tendency, and the nail itself scraped longitudinally. ”

“ The tight shoe or boot, too narrowly toed, is exclusively responsible for that painful affection, ingrowth of the toe-nail. If treated in time, it can be easily and simply cured. All that is necessary is to scrape down the nail until it becomes quite thin, and then cut the projecting edge of it in a semilunar form, with its concavity looking outward from the foot. The nail of the great toe should always be thus pared, care being taken not to clip the angles. This causes it to grow toward the centre, and shrink from the tender flesh at the sides. ”