16 THE NEW POCKET PARKIER. 



never have any upper tusks at all. The two lower tusks 

 are one of the most certain rules that a horse is coming 

 five years old, notwithstanding his colt's teeth may not 

 be all gone. 



Jockies and breeders, in order to make their colts 

 seem five years old when they are but four, pull out 

 their last colt's teeth ; but if all the colt's teeth are gone, 

 and no tusks appear, you may be certain this trick has 

 been played. Another artifice they use, is to beat the 

 bars every day with a wooden mallet, in the place where 

 the tusks are to appear, in order to make them seem 

 hard, as if the tusks were just ready to cut. 



When a horse is coming six years old, the two lower 

 pincers fill up, and, instead of the holes above-mentioned, 

 show only a black spot. Between six and seven the two 

 middle teeth fill up in the same manner; and between 

 seven and eight the corner teeth do the like ; after which 

 it is said to be impossible to know certainly the age of 

 a horvse, he having no longer any mark in the mouth. 



You can indeed only have recourse to the tusks, and 

 the situation of the teeth, of which I shall now speak. 



For the tusks you must with your finger feel the 

 inside of them from the point quite to the gum. If the 

 tusk be pointed flat, and has two little channels within 

 side, you may be certain the horse is not old, and at the 

 utmost only coming ten. Between eleven and twelve 

 the two channels are reduced to one, which after twelve 

 is quite gone, and the tusks are as round within as they 

 are without; you have no guide then but the situation 

 of the teeth. The longest teeth are not always a sign 

 of the greatest age, but their hanging over and pushing 

 forward, as their meeting, perpendicularly, is a certain 

 token of youth. 



Many persons, whilst they see certain little holes in 

 the middle of the teeth, imagine, that such horses are 



