128 



appearance of the tushes is not regular, but those 

 in the lower jaw show themselves first, and com* 

 monly at the age of three, or three and a half. 



The mark, as it is called, is a little cavity of a 

 dark colour, and about the size of a small grain of 

 oats, visible on the surface of the middhng and 

 corner teeth, and in a minor degree on the gather- 

 ers. It becomes filled up, making the surface 

 even at four years in the gatherers, at five in the 

 middhng teeth, and at seven in the corner teeth ; 

 after seven the age cannot be known by this cri- 

 terion ; but it should be noticed that though the 

 age in running horses has hitherto been usually 

 dated from the 1st of May, there is so much varia- 

 tion in the time of foaling as to make it impractica- 

 ble to speak with certainty to a few months more 

 or less. A late foal, w^hen four years of age in 

 sporting calculation, will not show his four-year- 

 old teeth till August or September, and of course 

 will sometimes pass for a three-year-old in the 

 spring, though, properly speaking, he ought to be 

 dated a year older. By a recent resolution of the 

 Jockey Club, blood-stock is now dated from the 

 1st of January, and of course this will lead to the 

 general adoption of the same rule in all stock. 



After a horse is far advanced in his eighth year, 

 no reliance whatever can be placed on his mark \ 



