324 



Occasionally bad efYects are caused by the heels of the 

 shoes running- into horses immediately between the 

 fore legs when lying. Tumours in that region are 

 generally the result of compression caused by the 

 weight of horses bearing upon the points of the sharp 

 heels when lying thus. High heels, either sharpened 

 or otherwise, should be studiously avoided. They 

 should never exceed three-quarters of an inch, and 

 they can be rubbed up with a file occasionally, which 

 will not necessitate the removal of the shoes so 

 frequently. 



DENTITION. 



An experienced horseman can generally determine 

 the age of a horse, at least approximately, by a careful 

 inspection of his general appearance, but to arrive at 

 accurate conclusions it is necessary to know something 

 of the science of dentition in order to be able to read 

 his age from his teeth. It is well known that horses 

 have two full sets of teeth, which are classed as colt 

 and horse teeth respectively. The former are practic- 

 ally useless in determining the age of horses, as the 

 last of them dirappear between the age of four and five 

 years when the horse attains the age of horsehood. 

 Numbers of colts, however, are sold for working pur- 

 poses previous to that age, therefore a knowledge of 

 colt teeth is quite as essential as a knowledge of 

 horse teeth. 



In order to prevent confusion the twelve incisors 

 are classed as follows : — The two immediately in front 



