198 THE DOMESTIC HORSE. 



space between the nippers, and approaching nearer 

 to the grinders ; at six years old the central nippers 

 are without a mark, or nearly so : at seven, in the 

 next pair, it likewise disappears ; and at eight, all 

 the cutting teeth have lost their black stain and 



o 



hollow. * 



A full grown horse, notwithstanding the different 

 purposes he may be intended for, is required to 

 possess some general qualifications in order to be 

 valuable : the head should be middle sized, well set 

 on, with the branches of the lower jaw sufficiently 

 separated to give the head liberty of action; the 

 eyes large and rather prominent; the ear small, erect, 

 lively ; the nostrils open, not fleshy ; the neck long, 

 with little curve along the gullet, but arched on 

 the crest ; full below, slender near the head ; the 

 withers somewhat high, and the shoulder slanting 

 backwards, but more vertical in proportion as the 

 animal is destined for draught ; the chest should 

 be capacious, deeper in horses for speed, rounder for 

 others ; the arm muscular, the canon bones forward, 

 flat and short ; the loins broad and the quarters 

 long ; the thigh muscular, the calcis high, and the 

 whole hock well bent under the horse. It is in the 



* These are the marks for estimating the age of the horse 

 till the animal is deemed old ; and it may be proper to add, 

 that there are further tokens taken from the tushes, &c. The 

 age of a horse is always calculated from the first of May, and 

 there is considerable difference in the marks between stabled 

 horses, crib-biters, and animals usually at grass. For an ad- 

 mirable account of these questions, we refer to the history of 

 " The Horse," before quoted. 



