ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 23 



When the foal is born none of the incisors have appeared. 

 About a week later the two center teeth are through the gums. 

 In a month the intermediates appear, and after eight or nine 

 months more, the corner teeth. These teeth are small, thin, and 

 white, and of little interest as a means of determining age to the 

 ordinary observer. Up to this time the colt's very appearance 

 marks his infancy — he is leggy, small in the body and neck, his 

 mane and tail are woolly and characteristic in appearance. 



For the" next year and a half, to the casual observer, these 

 teeth change but little; their grinding surfaces wear away, but 

 they retain much the same appearance they had at one year. 

 Because these teeth appear while the colt is still drawing his 

 sustenance from his mother, they are called milk-teeth. 



Between two and a half and three years, the center milk- 

 teeth have fallen out and permanent ones have taken their place. 

 ( When the horse approaches a given age — three, for instance 

 — he is said to be rising three ; after he has passed it, he is three 

 off until he is three and a half; after that period, he is ris- 

 ing four. 



The age of the colt at three is easily determined when we find 

 the center incisors permanent and the rest temporary. 



At four the intermediate temporary teeth are shed and re- 

 placed by permanent ones, and at five the temporary teeth are 

 all gone. 



Figure 11 shows very plainly the difference in appearance be- 

 tween the temporary (corner) and the permanent (intermediate) 

 teeth. 



Simply by opening the colt's lips the observer can tell his 

 age near enough for all ordinary, purposes. As a rule, a horse 

 less than five is not mature enough to be put to hard work; his 

 development is not complete, and what would be quite suitable 

 employment for a mature horse would probably prevent the 

 full development of a colt and by so much destroy his future 

 usefulness. 



