122 



HOW TO TELL THE AGE. 



age of a horse up to eight years, I will try to give such an explana- 

 tion of them as will serve to aid the general reader in catching the 



points of these changes most clearly. 



When the colt is one week old, the two 

 central nippers are grown about as represented 

 in Fig. 373. In from five to six weeks, another 



incisor will appear on either side of the two 



first, and the mouth will appear something like 



Fig. 374. At two months' they will have 



reached their natural level, and between the 



„ «..«,. second and third months the second pair will 



Fig. 375.— One Year Old. , , , _, .,, i , • 



have overtaken them, i hey will then begm 



to wear away a little, and the outer edge, which was at first 

 somewhat raised and sharp, is brought to a level with the inner one ; 

 and so the mouth continues until some 

 time between the sixth and ninth months, 

 when another nipper begins to appear on 

 each side of the two first, making six 

 above and below, and completing the 

 colt's mouth ; after which the only ob- 

 servable difference, until between the sec- 

 ond and third years, is in the wear of 

 these teeth. 



The teeth are covered with a polished, 

 hard substance, called enamel. It spreads 

 over that portion of the teeth which ap- 

 pears above the gum ; and not only so, but as they are to be so 

 much employed in nipping the grass, and gathering up the animal's 



food (and in such employment even this 

 hard substance must be gradually worn 

 away), a portion of it, as it passes over 

 the upper surface of the teeth, is bent in- 

 ward and sunk into the body of the teeth, 

 and forms a little pit in them. The inside 

 and bottom of this pit being blackened by 

 the food, constitutes the mark of the teeth, 

 by the gradual disappearan^ce of which, in 

 consequence of the wearing down of the 

 edges, we are enabled for several years to 

 determine the age of the horse. 



The colt's nipping-teeth are rounded in front, somewhat hollow 

 toward the mouth, and present at first a cutting surface, with the 



Fig. 376.— Twenty Months. 



-Two Years. 



