Rural School Leaflet. 1079 



color the hackney varies; chestnuts are at present in the greatest 

 demand. The French coach came from France. In color they vary 

 considerably, bays and browns being the most common. The German 

 coach came from Germany, where they have been bred for centuries. In 

 color they are usually bay, black, or brown. 



One must not get the idea that all the horses he observes on the 

 street will fall into one of these three types, for the horses that you 

 usually see are common horses of no particular type, and are 

 lised for a great variety of purposes. These common horses have not 

 been bred true to any type, but are oftentimes the result of crossing 

 the various types mentioned, or are descendants of common horses. 

 They are not so efficient for any given purpose, and arc not so valuable 

 as when bred true to a given type. 



ESTIMATING AGE IN HORSES 

 M. W. Harper 



One of the most important factors in determining the present and 

 prospective value of a horse is his age. His continued usefulness 

 depends on his age. Familiarity with the characters that most cer- 

 tainly indicate age is, therefore, often extremely useful. A knowledge 

 of these characters is not difficult to secure, but skill in their applica- 

 tion depends much on familiarity and continued practice. 



For estimating the age of the horse, the teeth furnish the best index; 

 yet there are other general considerations that play an important part, 

 especially in the case of very young and very old animals. 



General considerations. — In colts the bones of the face and lower jaw 

 have a full, rounded appearance, because the roots of the teeth extend 

 far into the bone. The face gradually becomes more concave on the 

 sides, the lower jaw thinner from side to side, and the lower edges much 

 sharper. This is because the teeth are much more deeply incased in 

 the jaw bone of the younger animal. Little by little the' teeth are 

 pushed from their sockets in order to compensate for the loss occasioned 

 by the friction of mastication, and at the same time the two borders 

 of the lower jaw bone are drawn towards each other. In very old 

 horses, white hairs make their appearance around the temples, the eyes, 

 and the nostrils; the poll or top of the head becomes more pointed; 

 the sides of the face more depressed; the supra-orbits, or hollows just 

 above the eyes, more hollowed out ; the back bone becomes more promi- 

 nent, and the animal does not stand squarely on his legs. Bear in 



