CHAPTER XVIII 



TEETH AND TOOTHACHE 



Is it true, Count, that horses are great sufferers from 

 toothache? I have read that the complaint is the real 

 cause of many a runaway, attributed to viciousness. 



' I believe nothing can be more absurd than such a 

 statement. Decayed teeth in a horse are most unnatural. 

 Of course, if the horse be constantly fed on something sour, 

 which creates fermentation, the enamel may become broken 

 or rotted, and the nerve may in time be exposed. In this 

 condition a frosty bit will cause exquisite pain ; but tooth- 

 ache, as we realise it, is something unknown to a well- 

 kept, healthy horse. Filing, cleaning, evening, and thereby 

 spoiling the horse's teeth, is gipsy work.' 



How do you mean ? 



' It is the way gipsies often take to earn a few dollars, 

 and at the same time learn the secrets of your stable. The 

 veterinary surgeon knows better, and nothing is gained by 

 constantly fooling about a horse's mouth. In Europe and 

 in the colleges there, such things would excite much merri- 

 ment and contempt — but the subject has been presented 

 to me before in this country.' 



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