NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. t^#. 



Bometimes slightly touched. An ignorant man would be very 

 easily deceived by this trick ; but the irregular appearance of 

 the cavity, the diffusion of the black stain around the tushes, 

 the sharpened edges and concave inner surface of which can 

 never be given again, the marks on the upper nippers, together 

 with the general conformation of the horse, can never deceive 

 the careful examiner. 



Horsemen, after the animal is eight years old, are accustomed 

 to look to the nippers in the upper jaw, and some conclusion 

 has been drawn from the appearances which they present. It 

 cannot be doubted that the mark remains in them for some 

 years after it has been obliterated in the nippers of the lower 

 jaw. 



There are various opinions as to the intervals between the 

 disappearance of the mark from the different cutting teeth of 

 the upper jaw. Some have averaged it at two years, others at 

 one. The latter opinion is more commonly adopted by those 

 most conversant, and then the age is thus determined. At 

 nine years, the mark will be worn from the middle nippers ; 

 from the next pair at ten ; and from all the upper nippers at 

 eleven. During these periods the tush is likewise undergoing 

 a manifest change. It is blunter, shorter, and rounder. In 

 what degree this takes place in the different periods, long and 

 favorable opportunities can alone enable the horseman to 

 decide. 



The alteration in the form of the tushes is frequently uncer- 

 tain. It will sometimes be blunt at eight j and at others re- 

 main pointed at eighteen. 



After eleven, and until the horse is very old, the age may 

 be guessed at with some degree of confidence, from the shape 



