io8o 



Rural School Leaflet. 



Fig. 28. — Lower-nippers 

 at three years of age 



mind, these considerations are general in their nature and to be con- 

 sidered as a whole. Each taken alone is of little or no use; but when 

 considered in connection with the age indicated by the teeth, they 



help to confirm one's conclusions as to the age. 

 Estimation of age by tJte teeth. — While the ap- 

 pearance of the teeth is considered the most 

 accurate means of estimating the age of the 

 horse, yet it is not absolutely accurate, since 

 other conditions as well as the individuality of 

 the animal must be taken into account. The tex- 

 ture of the horse's teeth, his feed, and his breed- 

 ing may influence the amount of wear on the teeth. 

 Since one is seldom called upon to estimate the 

 age of a colt under two and a half or three years of age, we shall pass 

 rapidly over the earlier period. The horse is provided with two sets of 

 teeth — the milk or baby teeth and the permanent teeth. The first or 

 middle pair of the milk teeth appear at about one week old; the second 

 or intermediate pair, at one to two weeks old and the third or lateral pair, 

 at about one month old. These baby teeth are long from right to left 

 and have well-defined "cups." These "cups" are small hollow depres- 

 sions in the middle of the teeth. 



Two and a half to three years old. — At about two years and nine months 

 the central permanent teeth will appear, and at full three years of age 

 the outer part of the teeth and sometimes the inner also, will be up and 

 in wear, Fig. 28. These permanent teeth are larger in every way 

 than the milk teeth At this age the intermediate milk teeth 

 have worn down and lost all or nearly all of their cups. There will be 

 a slight black indentation 

 that can hardly be called a 

 cup. In the lateral or corner 

 teeth, the cups are greatly re- 

 duced; if the colt is a male, 

 small caps are likely to be 

 present or in the process of 

 coming through the skin of the 

 jaw. These are called tusks. 

 Four years old. — At about 

 three years and nine months 

 the intermediate permanent teeth appear. At four years of age, they 

 are fully up and in wear on the inside and sometimes on the outside, 

 Fig. 29. The central teeth show one year's wear. The cups are not so deep 



Fig. 



2 9 . — Lower nippers 

 four years of age 



at 



Fig. 30. — S id e 

 view of the 

 teeth of a four- 

 vear-old horse 



