TEETH OF THE HORSE. 485 



him, and therefore, his soundness having been established, the age 

 of the horse largely determines his value. . This is to be arrived at 

 with sufficient accuracy by his " mouth," the distinguishing marks 

 being the appearance of the teeth, which is, with a margin of allow- 

 ance for variations of feeding, uniformly characteristic at different 

 ages. 



A colt sheds two teeth above and below at two ; one on each 

 side, above and below at three ; and corner ones at four ; at five the 

 teeth have grown up on the outside, but the corner teeth have not 

 grown up on the inside ; at six the center teeth below are smooth ; at 

 seven one on each side ; at eight all smooth below ; at nine the center 

 teeth above are smooth. 



Teeth of the Horse Owing to the fact that the permanent 

 front teeth of the horse which horsemen call nippers wear down, 

 so as to present a different appearance at different stages of this 

 wearing process, we have always a means of knowing the age of a 

 horse up to a certain period. How this may be done, will be seen, 

 by certain plain and simple directions, coupled with illustrations as 



Figure 1. 



Three-Years-old Mouth. 



given, which will enable any one to put them in practice. It should 

 be remarked, however, in this connection, that the rapidity with 

 which a colt's teeth wear down will depend, to some considerable 

 extent, upon the kind of food upon which he is raised ; those fed on 

 grain and hay wearing down much faster than those fed chiefly on 



