LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 33 



the aspects of the marks themselves and in the 

 form of the tooth at each surface as the teeth 

 wear down through age and use from a broad 

 ovoid form to a narrow triangular form; and, as 

 a consequence, in a very aged horse, the teeth do 

 not present a compact mass when viewed from 

 the front, but are more iike so many pegs with 

 spaces between them. 



Lastly, on separating the lips of a horse in his 

 prime, and viewing the closed teeth from the side, 

 we see the large bold curve, as in Fig. 4, F ; but 

 as age advances and the teeth wear away, we 

 get successively, but of course gradually, the 

 curve O, then in extreme old age the angular 

 curve H. 



21. — We saw that with the milk teeth the cen- 

 tral nippers came first, then the two next them — 

 one on either side — and finally the two corner 

 milk nippers, and at nine months old to a year at 

 most the foal had a ^ full mouth ' of nippers. 

 First come, first wear out; therefore the two cen- 

 tral milk nippers are shed at two and a half years; 

 the ones next these are shed at three and a half, 

 the corner nippers at four and a half. So that at 

 five years old — that is giving the corner teeth six 

 months to grow up to having at least a cutting if 

 not a grinding surface — the horse is said to have 

 a full mouth. 



Note. — The permanent teeth push out the tem- 

 porary ones, in order to gain the situation for 

 themselves. If the work of pushing out is done 

 for them they come up easier and quicker. This 



