LATERAL NIPPERS JUST THROUGH 253 



shape and have lost all or nearly all their cups. The 

 slight black indentations can hardly be called cups. 

 The cups in the corner teeth are greatly reduced. If 

 the colt be a male, small tusks are likely to be present 

 or in process of coining through the skin of the jaw. 



At about three years, nine months, the permanent 

 lateral nippers appear. At four years of age they are 

 fully up and in wear on the outside and sometimes 

 on the inside. (Fig. 65.) The central nippers 

 show a year's wear, and the cups are not so deep as 

 they were when the colt was three years of age. The 

 cups, or marks, have nearly or quite disappeared from 

 the corner (milk) teeth, often nothing but a slight 

 dark indentation being left. The tusks have enlarged, 

 but are still sharp at their points and flattish on the 

 inside. A side view of a four-year-old mouth is 

 shown in Fig. 66. The crowns of the two temporary, 

 or milk-teeth, one upper and one 

 lower, come together closely over 

 their entire surface, while the 

 two permanent teeth do not yet 

 meet at their posterior corners. 



When the colt reaches the age 

 of four years and nine months, 

 the corner nippers make their ap- 

 pearance. When he reaches the 

 full age of five years, the outer FIG. 66. side view of the teeth 



,. ii.i xi.u f a four-year-old horse. 



anterior portions of these teeth 



meet. (See side view of a five-year-old mouth, Fig. 68.) 

 About one year of wear must take place before the corner 

 teeth are worn level throughout their entire surfaces, 



