NUMBER OF TEETH: TUSHB3. 203 



sharpen their judgment : in the horse we are enabled to make a fair esumate 

 of his years from the birth, to ten or twelve, by means of its teeth, but then 

 we should guard ourselves against a number of deception? tricks that are prac- 

 tised on the unwary. 



A certain juvenility of countenance and springiness of action, legs long 

 compared to the carcass, or filling up, large at the knees and other joints, wide 

 jowl, rough coat, and intractability, denote the foal and colt in succession ; all 

 which indications vanish gradually as it advances towards maturity, and be- 

 comes full mouthed. Heavy cattle assume premature age and sometimes de- 

 ceive us upon the first view ; nor do such decay when aged so fast as the more 

 spirited, fretful, and lighter breeds ; and as no one would purchase a horse for 

 use before it be fit for his purpose, nor take to one that is worn out, the vendor 

 hesitates not to stretch a year or so, one way or the other, as may best suit his 

 own interest and his customer's wants. To aid their nefarious designs, they 

 are said to file the marks of age in colts' teeth, and to bishop the aged, for 

 confirmation of their falsehoods. But we never rely wholly upon those marks, 

 but turn our attention to the curve of the tushes in the horse's mouth, and the 

 sloping forward of the corner teeth in both sexes, to detect the imposture. 



When we open the mouth of a full grown, or four year old horse, we per- 

 ceive twelve nipper teeth in front and twenty-four grinders behind: between 

 the two sets, above and below, a space is seen on the gum, designed by nature 

 to receive the bit, and termed the bars of the upper or lower jaw, as the case 

 may be. About an inch behind the last of the front teeth, the male has tush- 

 es at this age, which seldom occurs with mares. The tushes coming up in 

 the lower jaw sometimes occasion soreness at the bars, when these are to te lan- 

 ced and the tushes appear : this the dealers effect prematurely at times ; and 

 having also drawn out the two front sucking teeth, this causes the " korse 

 teeth" to come up soon, so that the animal may appear four years old be- 

 fore its time. Pursuing the same species of deception, they proceed to draw 

 the remaining sucking teeth, that the animal may assume the appearance of a 

 five year old. Jockies have then a pass word for this operation, which they 

 term "all up!" 



In examining the mouth to ascertain the age, we leave entirely out of con- 

 sideration the grinding teeth, and chiefly rely upon the under jaw ; though 

 when deception may be suspected, the buyer should refer to the upper teeth 

 also, as these follow the same course of nature as the lower, but do not decay 

 so fast in old age. 



At fifteen days old the fore teeth (two above and two below), appear above the 

 gums, the outside shell first, having muscular substance in the middle of the two 

 shells, whi^h fills gradually up, till about the end of the first year, when tho 

 surface becomes smooth, and a small ring is observable towards the root of each. 



Meantime, when the foal is a month old, the next two teeth (one on each 

 side) above and below, appear in Uke manner ; and at thirteen months tho 

 fleshy cavities of these fill up, and a ring is observable as in the former. 



At four months old the corner teeth come 

 up, and the filling up is similarly eflfected at 

 sixteen or seventeen months old. After this 

 period the whole six teeth wear even, and so 

 continue smooth and unmarked until two 

 years and a half, the corner teeth being still 

 the least perfect, the front ones largest. 



During this state of the mouth, if the un- 

 principled dealer would give his animal's teeth 

 *.lic mark of tluree or four years old, he is said 2 1-2 ijears old 



•xj "file" two or four front teeth hollow in the middle; though in fact it i« 



