146 TEETH. 



hardly provoke regret — certainly it cannot excite wonder — should these 

 once beautiful ornaments of the foal's mouth be displaced. Indeed, the 

 aspect of jaws in the two-year old plainly intimate approaching altera- 

 tion, which in a few months will become apparent. 



Three years old is the period when the greater number of colts are 

 brought to market. About this age most animals begin to perform 

 work. Omnibus horses are purchased when only thus far advanced in 

 life. The army also buys its remounts when no farther matured. Car- 

 riages are drawn by young horses which, when they become three years 

 old, are resigned to the bit, the bearing-rein, and the exactions of Lon- 

 don's fashionable ladies. Huntsmen, to be sure, have discovered that a 

 quadruped must be "full five" before it can gallop "cross country," take 

 fences, and be ridden m at the death, or even be expected to " hold " a 

 good place during "the run." But all gentlemen like to sit on the yield- 

 ing back of a youthful steed ; though, to be properly maintained, such 

 a seat will, very probably, cost fifty pounds a year, if not more money. 

 The upper classes of society, and those who sacrifice personal judgment 

 to mimic their example, seem to act as though they were assured that 

 equine life was, by the third summer, fully fitted to endure the severest 

 extortions of mankind 1 



To embitter the fact, every year of the horse's life is not calculated 

 according to the calendar. Man chooses to estimate the age of his pos- 

 session by another standard than that of the seasons. The first year of 

 hardly two animals in the kingdom is precisely of the same length. 

 Horses are, by the Jockey Club, permitted to have only two birthdays. 

 Thus, all blood foals must first see the light on the first of January ; or, 

 should one presume to peep at the world upon the thirty-first of De- 

 cember, the decision, which admits of no appeal, will esteem the in- 

 truder one year old when the second day of its existence commences. 

 Then all animals, not thorough-bred, must forbear to look upon creation 

 until the first of May comes round ; or, if they dare to mistake the time, 

 even by an hour, they are absolutely pronounced one year old, before 

 the little beings can fairly stand up and look about them. 



Such regulations may be very convenient for the purposes of the 

 Jockey Club ; but nature has not yet given in her submission to human 

 institutions. Medical men know that ladies cannot always calculate to 

 the minute; therefore mares, which have not yet learned arithmetic, 

 should not be held so very strict to their reckonings. Moreover, when 

 men will pay to sit upon the back of a three-year old, it is of all import- 

 ance to the spine, which has to endure the burden, whether the nominal 

 birthday represents the actual time or merely implies the animal is two 

 years and half an hour of positive age. However, the teeth most ob- 



