6 



bed up to the stifle ; his ribs round like a barrel, his 

 fillets large, his quarters rather oval than broad, reach- 

 ing well down to the gaskins. His hockbone upright, 

 not bending ; which some term sickle houghed, and 

 think it denotes fastness and a laster. His legs should 

 be clean, flat and straight ; his joints short, well knit, 

 and upright, especially at the pastern and hoofs, with 

 but little hair at the fetlocks ; his hoofs black, strong, 

 and hollow, and rather long and narrow, than large 

 and flat. His mane and tail should be long and thin 

 rather than very thick, which some think a mark of 

 dullness. 



HOW TO TELL A HORSE'S AGE. 



General appearance bespeaks the age of every ani- 

 mal ; of the horse, we can make a fair estimate of his 

 years from his birth to twelve, by means of his teeth. 

 When we open the mouth of a full grown, or 4 year 

 old horse, we perceive twelve nipper teeth in front, 

 and twenty-four grinders behind ; between the two 

 setts above and below, a space is seen on the gum, de- 

 signed by nature to recieve the bit, and termed the 

 bars of the upper or lower jaw, as the case may be. 

 About an inch behind the last of the front teeth, the 

 male has tushes at this age, which seldom occurs with 

 mares. The tushes coming up in the lower jaw some- 

 times occasions soreness at the bars, when these are 

 to be lanced, and tushes appear; this the dealers ef- 

 fect prematurely at times; and having also drawn out 

 the two front sucking teeth, this causes the "horse 

 teeth,'' to come up soon, so that the animal may ap- 

 pear four years old before its time. Pursuing the 

 same species of deception, they proceed to draw the 

 remaining sucking teeth, that the animal may assume 

 the appearance of a four year old. Jockies have then 

 a pass word, *all up.' 



In examining the mouth to ascertain the age, we 

 leave entirely out of consideration the grinding teeth, 

 and chiefly rely upon the under jaw ; though when 

 deception may be suspected, the buyer should refer to 

 the upper teeth also, as these follow the same course 

 as the lower, but do not decay so fast by age. 



The cuts represent 2 1-2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 yrs. of age. 



