THE AGE OF THE HORSE 85 



The area between the front of the tooth and the inner 

 enamel ring is referred to as the anterior edge of the table, 

 whilst the corresponding area behind is the posterior 

 portion of it. These two areas are rather important, 

 mainly because they are so intimately associated with 

 wear in relation to age. It is customary to make use of 

 the lower incisors only as indicators of age, excepting 

 when the incisors of the lower and upper jaws are in close 

 apposition, and then it is only the corner teeth which are 

 of any value as a means of judging the age. 



In a young animal, or at any rate, up to the age of 

 eight years, the gums are circular and the teeth practically 

 vertical. With advance in years, the incisors gradually 

 lose this position until they finally become, say in a 

 horse thirty to thirty-five years of age, almost hori- 

 zontal and greatly elongated. Long teeth may at all 

 times be accepted as positive evidence that the animal 

 is an old one, and the older it becomes the more the 

 gums recede and the more horizontally inclined the teeth 

 become. 



Soon after birth a pair of incisor teeth appear in the 

 upper and lower jaws, and as these are in the centre of 

 the m.outh, they are spoken of as the " centrals." The 

 next pair are known as the " laterals " and these are 

 followed by the " corners," so that by the time the foal 

 is twelve months old it has a complete set of temporary 

 incisors. These teeth continue to serve the foal until it 

 has turned tv/o years old, after which time they are 

 replaced by the permanent incisors. The shedding of the 

 temporary teeth is carried out with a fair degree of regu- 

 larity and it is accompanied by redness of the gums and 

 subsequent absorption of the fangs of the teeth about to 

 be replaced. In exceptional instances the crown of the 

 permanent tooth becomes entangled in the fang of the 

 temporary one and in this manner some irregularity is 

 occasionally observable. 



The incisor teeth are replaced exactly in the same order 



