PRECAUTIONS IN BUYING A HORSE. 95 



the other hand, cunning dealers know how to 

 make horses of twelve years old appear like 

 horses of seven or eight, by filing the teeth even, 

 and by making artificial cavities on both corners, 

 and frequently also on the middle teeth, and after- 

 wards imparting to them a natural color by means 

 of the nitrate of silver. Lest this fraud should be 

 discovered, they rub the mouth of the horse with 

 salt, in order to render a careful examination of 

 tfie teeth in the working and frothy mouth of the 

 horse impossible. 



In some horses the teeth always indicate an 

 age of six or seven years. Such horses are known 

 by the upper jaw overhanging the lower in conse- 

 quence ot which the teeth do not press against 

 and cannot be rubbed against each other, and the 

 marks do not become effaced. The shape and 

 length of the teeth differ materially from those of 

 a horse that is really six or seven years old ; for 

 in old horses the teeth are stronger, rounder and 

 furrowed, whereas, in young horses, they are flat- 

 tened and short. After this the horse should be 

 taken on firm ground, and a careful examination 

 should be made, whether he is afflicted with any of- 

 the defects indicated, or whether any other detects 

 are discoverable ; whether the tore legs are too close 

 together near the chest, or whether the feet are 

 turned outwards ; whether the spring-joints of the 

 hind legs are not too much curved, and whether 

 the fetlocks are not generally too stiff or awk- 

 ward ; whether the hoof, which is a most im- 

 portant part of the body of a horse, is too full, too 

 flat, split, contracted, or ulcerated, all of which 

 are defects that may have very unpleasant conse- 

 quences. Afterwards the horse should be made 

 to walk and trot with a view to observing the 

 character of his movements, whether they are 



