76 



These ridges arc large and distinct in a young 

 liorse, but become flatter and more level as the 

 animal advances in years, and in very old horses 

 they are nearly absorbed. I'he front teeth or 

 incisores of both jaws, in a young horse, meet 

 exactly in a line, and perpendicularly to each 

 other. As the horse srrows older, these teeth 

 take a more horizontal direction, nearly in a 

 line with the jaws, the upper teeth projecting 

 very considerably over the lower teeth ; at the 

 same time the upper corner tooth forms a curve 

 over the lower corner tooth. Furrows appear 

 on their front surfaces, and their colour becomes 

 yellow and opaque. Other characteristics of 

 age may be seen externally ; for instance, the 

 eye's sink in their orbits, the eye-lids become 

 lean and wrinkled, and the cavity above the 

 eye* appears more hollow, CJray hairs shoot 

 out upon the forehead and the lower part of the 

 mouth, the middle of the nose becomes indented 

 by the long-continued pressure of the nose- 

 band of the head-collar, and the lips exhibit a 

 lean and shrivelled appearance, the lower lip 

 hanging considerably below the upper lip. The 

 ears also drop more or less in a lateral direction. 

 The external marks of old age, together with 

 those of the teeth, the dealer in horses exerts 

 his ingenuity to counteract. 



* Thi« cavity, however, is sonielimes deep in a young 

 horse. 



