100 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



of the upper surface or extremity of the nippers. At eight 

 they are all oval, the length of the oval running across from 

 tooth to tooth ; but as the horse gets older, the teeth diminish 

 in size — and this commencing in their width, and not in their 

 thickness. They become a little apart from each other, and 

 their surfaces become round instead of oval. At nine, the 

 centre nippers are evidently so ; at ten, the others begin to have 

 their ovals shortened. At eleven, the second pair of nippers 

 is quite rounded ; and at thirteen, the corner ones have also 

 that appearance. At fourteen, the faces of the central nippers 

 become somewhat triangular. At seventeen, they are all so. 

 At nineteen, the angles begin to wear off, and the central 

 teeth are again oval, but in a reversed direction, viz., from 

 outward, inward; and at twenty-one, they all w^ear this 

 form. 



It would, of course, be folly to expect any thing like a 

 certainty in an opinion of the exact age of an old horse, as 

 drawn from the above indications. It is contended by some, 

 though denied by others, that stabled horses have the marks 

 sooner worn out than those that are at grass ; and crib-biters 

 still sooner. At nine or ten, the bars of the mouth become 

 less prominent, and their regular diminution will designate in- 

 creasing age. At eleven or twelve, the lower nippers change 

 their original upright direction, and project forward horizon- 

 tally, becoming of a yellow color. 



The general indications of old age, independent of the 

 teeth, are the deepening of the hollows over the eyes ; gray 

 hairs, and particularly over the eyes, and about the muzzle; 

 thinness and hanging down of the lips ; sharpness of the 

 withers, sinking of the back, lengthening of the quarters ; and 



