266 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



Operation was not at all necessary to "stop the big head," or 

 "save the eyes." 



True, they are often in the way, and never of the least 

 service, and, for these reasons, it is best to extract them. 

 But there is no ground for supposing them instrumental in 

 developing other diseases, any further than they may excite 

 local irritation and soreness in cutting, although this effect 

 is less marked in their case than in that of the other teeth. 



Mares do not have them, unless a peculiar growth of the 

 jaw-bone, which is occasionally seen at the point where they 

 usually come through, can be called such. Neither do a 

 great many horses. In most instances, the appearance is 

 rather that of a bony enlargement on the top of the jaw- 

 bone than that of a real tooth, and the gum is frequently 

 not cut through at all. Blind teeth seem to have no socket, 

 fang, or nerve, and are to be regarded as intruders only. 



DECAY OF THE TEETH. 



The teeth of horses, like those of human beings, are sub- 

 ject to decay. In common parlance, they become rotten, 

 which is just the same condition that the dentist refers to 

 when he speaks of " caries" of the teeth. The horse's front 

 teeth sometimes show signs of decay, but generally it is the 

 jaw teeth, the molars, which are affected. 



It may be a novel idea to many farmers, and, perhaps, still 

 more so to the charming portion of creation representedi by 

 their wives and daughters, but it is a fact* that the horse not 

 unfrequently suffers from toothache. This is one of the 

 causes which so often make him suddenly drop the corn, or 

 other hard feed, from his mouth while eating. The owner or 

 attendant generally sets this down as indicating some nat- 

 ural disrelish for the food at that particular time, whereas the 

 fact very often is, that he has hurt his tooth. Having no 

 hand to press to his mouth, the poor animal is allowed to 

 suffer without there being so much as a suspicion of what 

 the trouble really is. 



A disordered condition of the stomach has much to do with 



