Il6 ON THE HORSE IN GENERAL. 



hair that glofs and burnifh, which is the charac- 

 teristic of youth and prime; it will look dead, 

 faded, or entirely lofe its colour, in various 

 parts. In proportion to the excefs of thefe 

 appearances, will be the Horfe's age. 



The following, are among the devices prac- 

 tifed by a fet of unfeeling rafcals, who have no 

 other rule of conduct, than their fuppofed 

 intereft, to counterfeit the marks of age in 

 Horfes. At four years old, they will frequent- 

 ly knock out the remaining colt's teeth, in order 

 to make the Horfe appear five; but you will 

 be convinced of the fraud, by the non-ap- 

 pearance of the tufhes; and if it be a mare, by 

 the fhortnefs and fmallnefs of the corner teeth, 

 and indeed of the teeth in general. To give 

 an old horfe the mark, is termed, to bifhop 

 him ; of the derivation of this term, I have no 

 knowledge. They burn a hole in each of the 

 corner teeth, and make the {hell fine and thin, 

 with fome iron infirument ; fcraping all the teeth 

 to make them white; fometimes they even file 

 them all down fhort and even. To this they 

 add another operation ; they pierce the fkin 

 over the hollows of the eye, and blow it up 

 with a quil : but fuch manoeuvres can deceive 

 only the inexperienced, and in cafe of difpute 

 would be detected in an inftant. 



Of the colours of Horfes, nothing in my 

 opinion can be faid more to the purpofe, than 



to 



