THE AGE OF THE HORSE 87 



resulting through old age, viz. their increase in length, 

 and contraction of the gums. The amateur is likely to 

 experience the greatest difficulty in ascertaining whether a 

 horse is six, seven, eight, nine or ten years old. A great 

 number of buyers, especially for town work, prefer to 

 purchase a horse at six years old, and vendors usually 

 adjust their description according to the requirements of 

 the purchaser. 



Quite a large proportion of horses are sold as seven- 

 year-olds, whereas they are often twelve or fourteen years 

 old, and quite commonly ten, and it is at the latter ages 

 horses begin, to a certain extent, not to increase in value, 

 but rather to decrease. The changes which take place in 

 the tables of the teeth have to be mainly relied upon, but 

 valuable evidence is afforded by looking at the upper and 

 lower corner incisors when the mouth is closed. At six 

 year " off " the upper corner incisor projects shghtly over 

 the front edge of the lower corner incisor, and this becomes 

 more marked at seven years " off." However, as pre- 

 viously stated, most reliance must be placed upon the 

 tables. If a horse is six years old the anterior edge of the 

 table of the lower corner incisors are well in wear, but 

 fully formed tables of the last-named certainly indicate 

 that the animal is in its seventh year. The " mark " at 

 seven years old is " elliptical " in the corner incisors, and 

 lies close to the hinder edge of the table. Moreover, at 

 seven years the tables of the central teeth are more trian- 

 gular, and still more so at eight. At the last-named age 

 the inner enamel ring is also triangular in the centrals 

 and laterals and has lost the elongated form which it had 

 at seven years. This inner enamel ring finally becomes 

 obliterated, in fact, is almost lost from ten years onwards, 

 and the same applies to the " mark." The incisor teeth 

 at these ages are much longer than they were at six, seven 

 and eight, and the only alterations which take place are as 

 previously stated. 



Many years ago, Galvayne introduced a method of 



