130 



DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



mode of obtaining the one or the other makes considerable diiFer- 

 ence in the wear and tear of the same, consequently we must 

 bear in mind that the popular theory of " age " is sometimes more 

 arbitrary than truthful, and allowances for the same must be 

 made. At the age of two, or a few months over, i\\e front perma- 

 nent teeth ought to appear, aud, consequently, at the age of three^ 

 varying a few months, the middle teeth are up. AXfour, varying 

 as in the preceding cases, the corner teeth begin to show them- 

 selves, and are not up square with the others until the fifth year. 

 The animal now emerges from colthood, and is known as a horse. 

 As regards the female, during her minority she is termed "flly;'* 

 at five she enters the adult stage, and, consequently, is denomi' 



Fig. 10 



A. youNa horse's mouth. 



nated a mare. Supposing the horse to have a full set of nip|>ers, 

 or incisors, at the age of five, the marks, or black incrustation, 

 will have so worn away at six as to leave a faint brown mark 

 At seven, similar appearances have taken place in the two next, 

 or middle, teeth. At eight the marks, or rather the cavities, of 

 the two next, or corner teeth, are now about obliterated, and the 

 fiiee of the teeth are nearly level, and the central enamel is nearer 

 the inward than the outward border. After the marks have all 

 disappeared in the lower jaw, the exact age can not clearly be 

 shown. At the age of nine the front teeth appear somewhat 

 rounded; the middle and corner ones contract their oval faces, 

 and the central enamel diminishes and approaches the inward 

 border. At ie^i the middle incisors resemble those at nine, and 

 the central enamel has approximated the inward border and is 

 rounded. At e/^jen the middle teeth resemble *:hose at ten, and 



