Horseshoe Nails

The use of various types of horseshoe is considered to have begun around the second century before Christ by migratory Eurasian tribes, Maddox Nail

but the nailed on horseshoe appeared in Europe some time later probably used by the Celts who are thought to have been the first to protect their horses’ feet with nailed on shoes. For round 3,000 years each nail was made by hand, one at a time, until the mid 1800s when mass production of horseshoes, and nails, was introduced. Today there is a huge range of horseshoe nails available on the market, designed to suit every need.

When a shoe is nailed on a farrier will consider the size of the horses foot, the shoe ‘section’ (length, depth and width of the material) and the type and quality of the foot to help decide which nail to use. Accurate nailing-on is directly influenced by the correct fitting of the shoe – the nail line within the shoe needs to mirror the horny hoof within the foot.

A nail is driven into the insensitive horny hoof - light taps on the hammer will encourage the nail to come out low whilst harder blows will encourage a nail to exit the hoof wall higher. Nails at the toe of the foot are more likely to exit lower than nails in the quarters; delivering the correct hammer blows takes practise. When driving in a nail the aim is for the nail to exit the hoof wall in good quality horn approximately one third of the way up the horse’s hoof wall.

Toe nail holes within the shoe are forged to have a greater angle to the inside of the foot than the heel nail holes to encourage the nail driven in to follow the correct contours of the foot - this is known as the ‘pitch’ of the nail. If the horse has a sloping hoof pastern axis, greater pitch is needed compared with an upright foot where less pitch is required. The nail head should sit slightly above the shoe in order for them to stay tight throughout the shoeing cycle. Heel nails should be no further back than the widest part of the foot and whilst historically it was common to use four nails in the outside and three in the inside it is no more usual to have even numbers for balance and symmetry.

A clenching block may be used to help tighten up the nails and the protruding ends of the nail are wrung off, not twisted. A small groove is made in the hoof wall for the ‘clench’ to sit in and the remaining nail pulled over with clenching tongs or hammer and pincers. A good clench should ideally be slightly longer than it is wide. A rasp is run over the top of the clench to take off any sharp edges but not to make it thin. In competition conditions the clenches should appear in a line to demonstrate accuracy and consistency however in every day farriery work whilst this is preferred allowances are made for the quality and shape of the hoof wall. Loose nails and/or risen clenches are a good indication that a horse needs re-shoeing.

There are five main features of a nail; the top, the head, the neck, the shank and the point (see diagram). The head and point of a nail are bevelled the same way so that when a nail is driven into the hoof wall it will turn outward and exit the hoof wall to be turned down and clenched.

Nails are made from steel and commonly manufactured by rolling and forging processes. Rolling machines were first developed in the late 1800’s and involve a wire being fed through a machine containing sets of roller dies to gradually form the shank of the nail and latterly the bevel, point and head of the nail before exiting the machine. Forging involves the nail shank being formed in a swedging machine which delivers hammer blows on all four sides of a wire. The resulting nail blank is finished by a separate machine to form the nail head and point.

Mustad Nails

Nails are identified by a number which refers to the length of the shank and a name which refers to the shape of the head. Probably the most common in the UK are the ‘E’ or ‘European’ head which is suitable for sport, pleasure and draft horses. The ‘E-slim’ was introduced as the number of workhorses decreased and the number of sport and pleasure horses increased to reflect the demand for a nail with the same size head but with a thinner shank to suit the lighter horses with thinner hoof walls better. However it should be noted that using a nail with a thinner shank in a hoof wall capable of taking a thicker one may cause the nail to ‘shear off’ between the foot surface on the shoe and the foot itself and therefore the choice of nail needs some careful consideration. Other types of nail include the ‘MX’ range which have an even thinner shank in relation to a larger head which makes them more suited to very thin walled horses and the ‘FJ’ range which has a short neck, more suited to racehorses and ponies with shoes of a smaller section. Nails designed for racehorses sit level in the shoe as it is not permitted for them to be protruding. Nails may also assist with grip on hard surfaces. Road nails for example have a tungsten tip inserted into the top of the nail.

The range of nails from which to choose from is vast. Mustad, the world’s largest farriery manufacturer and supplier, produces just over 320 different types of nail! The design and manufacture of each nail, and any new nail, is a complex process and will take into consideration not just the horse and the work that it is being asked to do but also considers geographical trends and styles, the environmental conditions and the development of farriery skills and techniques.