402 



THE TEETH OF THE HOKSE 



been devised. The next illustration shows the groove extending the whole 

 length of the tooth at the age of twenty-one years (fig. 620), 



From the age of twenty-one another process has to be noted, which 

 ends with the total obliteration of the groove through the combined pro- 

 cesses of wear and growth in the course of 

 another nine or ten years. The drawing 

 below shows that the groove has been half 

 worn out from below, and the smooth, 

 ungrooved surface of the previously con- 

 cealed portion of the organ has grown 

 downwards, which indicates the animal to 

 be twenty-six years old (fig. 621). 



In the course of another four or five 

 years only a trace of the groove is seen 

 at the cutting edge of the tooth, the structure up to the place where 

 the gum encircles it being perfectly smooth. This condition is shown in 

 the next drawing and indicates that the animal is thirty years old 

 (fig. 622). 



It cannot, of course, be suggested that any great importance has to be 

 attached to the means of judging a horse's age from twelve, when the 



Fig. 620. (c) Groove extending- the 

 whole length of the Corner Incisor at 

 twenty-one years 



Fig. 621. (d) Groove grown down from the 

 gum, leaving the upper part of the tooth 

 smooth at twenty-six years 



Fig. 622. (e) Groove nearly worn out, 

 upper part of incisor round and smooth, 

 at thirty years 



animal would be called aged up to thirty, when he would usually be worn 

 out; but the horseman will find some interest in comparing the drawings 

 which have been given with the mark in the corner tooth in any cases 

 which may come under his notice of horses whose ages are accurately 

 known. 



%* The illustrations in this section are reproduced by permission of the Council of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England from the pamphlet by Professor Sir George T. Brown, C.B., entitled "Dentition as 

 Indicative of the Age of the Animals of the Farm ". 



