ADDllIONAL USEFUL HINTS. 613 



Swimming a i^crjtr.— When swimming a horse never touch the bridle, as a 

 horse is easily drowned when checked up or otherwise interfered with about the 

 head. Sit well back and g:uide the horse with the hand, gently slapping him on 

 either side as required thus a horse will swim a mile or more with a full-grown 

 man on his back, and suffer but little. Or better still, throw yourself from the 

 horse on the down stream side, and with the right hand grasping the mane at 

 the withers, aid the progress of the horse with the other and feet as in swim- 

 ming. 



To Stcbdue a Horse. — Take a cord about the size of a common bed-cord, put it 

 in the mouth of the horse like a bit, and tie it tightly on the animal's head, pass 

 his left ear under the string, not painfully tight, but tight enougjj to keep the ear 

 down and the cord in its place. This done, pat the horse gently on the side of the 

 head and command him to follow. He will be found perfectly subdued and 

 obedient, the more submissive if he has not been habitually treated cruelly or 

 outrageously. This plan is practiced in Mexico and South America. 



To Tell a Horse'' s .-i^<?.— The colt is born with twelve grinders; when four 

 front teeth have made their appearance, the colt is twelve days old, and when the 

 next four come forth, it is four weeks old. When the corner teeth appear, the 

 colt is eight months old ; when the latter have attained to the height of the front 

 teeth, it is one year old. The two year old colt has the kernel (the substance in 

 the middle of the tooth's crown) ground out in all the front teeth. In the third 

 year the middle front teeth arg being shifted, and when three years old these are 

 substituted by the horse teeth. The next four teeth are shifted in the fourth year, 

 and the corner teeth in the fifth. At six years the kernel is worn out of the lower 

 middle front teeth, and the bridle teeth have not attained to their full growth. At 

 seven years, a hook has been formed in the corner teeth of the upper jaw, the 

 kernel of the next at the middle is worn out, and the bridle teeth begin to wear 

 off. At eight years, the kernel is worn out of the lower front teeth, and begins to 

 decrease in the middle upper front. In the ninth year the kernel has wholly dis- 

 appeared from the upper middle front teeth ; the hook on the corner has increased 

 m size, and the bridle teeth lose their points. In the tenth year, the kernel is 

 worn out of the teeth next to the middle front of the upper jaw, and in the eleventh 

 year the kernel has entirely vanished from the corner teeth of the same jaw. At 

 twelve years old, the crown of all the front teeth in the lower jaw has become 

 triangular, and the bridle teeth are much worn down. As the horse advances in 

 age the gums shrink away from the teeth, which consequently receive a long 

 narrow appearance, and the kernels become darkish points. Grey increases in 

 the forehead and over the eyes, and the chin assumes the form of an angle. 



Shedding Mane. — The shedding of hair from a horse's mane and tail can be 

 prevented by washing the parts affected a few times in carbolic soapsuds. Or a 

 wash made of lard oil one pint, and aqua ammonia one gill, well mixed and 

 rubbed in, will prevent the falling of the hair. 



Saddle Marks. — White marks caused by the friction of the saddle may some- 

 times be removed from a horse by applying, morning and night, an ointment 

 made of lard and tincture of cantharides or Spanish fly, made in the proportion of 

 a few drops of the latter to an ounce of the former. 



Ticks on Horses. — Any kind of oil will make the tick let go of its own accord, 

 if well rubbed into the hair of the animal. The theory is, that the oil tills the 

 pores of the skin and deprives the tick of air to breathe. 



Fleas and Vermin. — Nothing better to keep them off than Persian insect pow- 



