THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 57 



WOLF TEETH. 



The wolf teeth are two small, round, pointed, temporary 

 teeth which v'ary in size in different animals, and are situated one 

 on each side in front of the molars or back teeth in the upper jaw. 

 They commence to grow soon after the birth of the animal and 

 if not pulled or knocked out usually decay between the ages of 

 five and eight years and drop out. These teeth affect the eve 

 causing- it to look dull and run water, and should be pulled 

 out when first noticed. 



The horse has two sets of teeth, the milk teeth are temporary 

 and are the ones that the colt sheds, while the ones that come in 

 and remain without being shed, are called the permanent teeth. 

 The cutting of the teeth in the foal varies some, but at or within 

 nine days after birth the foal has four front teeth two in the 

 centre above and two below, and in the back part of the mouth he 

 is found to have twelve molars, at from seven to nine weeks he 

 gets four more incisors or front teeth, one at each side of the two 

 centre teeth in each jaw; at nine months old he gets the last 

 of his milk or temporary teeth, these being the corner teeth, two in 

 the upper side of the jaw and two in the lower side of the jaw. 

 Now he has his full set of milk or temporary teeth, consisting of 

 twelve molars or grinders and twelve incisors or front teeth, six- 

 above and six below, making twenty-four teeth in all. As the 

 colt advances in age he must shed all these teeth. After this age 

 the colt commences getting his permanent teeth; when the age of 

 one year is reached he gets four permanent molars, two in each 

 jaw one on each side behind the three temporary ones. At two vears 

 old he gets four more back molars, one on each side of each jaw. 

 When the age of two years and nine months has been reached the 

 two middle teeth of the temporary incisors or front teeth of each 

 jaw fall out and are replaced by two permanent incisors in each 

 jaw, so at the age of three years these four permanent incisors are 

 up and in wear. At this age, the first eight molars, two on 

 each side of each jaw, are shed and replaced by eight permanent 

 molars. At four years old he sheds four more front teeth next to 

 the ones shed at three years old, and are replaced by four more 

 permanent incisors or front teeth. Also at this age it sheds the 

 four remaining temporary molars or grinders, which are replaced 

 by four more permanent molars, and he also gets four more per- 

 manent molars at the back of the mouth, thus at the age of 



