28 

 the ages of 35, 37, and 39. The oldest, it is to be 

 remarked, was in a carriage the very day he died, 

 strong and vigorous; but v/as carried off in a few 

 hours by spasmodic colic, to which he was subject. 

 Hence it must be at once evident how small a pro- 

 portion of a horse's natural life is eight years ; and 

 yet this is the period that the majority of persons be- 

 gin to consider him as aged, and beginning to get 

 nnfit for service. The more I see of horses, the more 

 I am astonished at the want of attention and conside- 

 ration it evinces: my long acquaintance with the ani- 

 mal has induced me to drav/ the following comparison 

 between \he ages of man and the horse; that is, 

 at these several periods of comparison the constitution 

 of the man and horse may be considered as in an 

 equal degree of perfection or decay, according as 

 youth or age preponderate. Thus, the first five years 

 of a horse may be considered as equivalent to the first 

 twenty years of a man ; that is, that a horse of five 

 years may be comparatively considered as old as a 

 man of twenty ; a horse of ten years as a man of 

 thirty-five ; a horse of fifteen as a man of forty-five ; 

 a horse of twenty as a man of fifty-five ; of twenty- 

 five as a man of sixty-five ; of thirty as a man of 

 seventy-five and eighty; and of thirty-five as a man 

 of eighty-five or ninety. Whoever attends to these 

 comparisons will be convinced they are not over- 

 strained, and hence how evident it must be, that we 

 reject horses as aged who have not yet attained their 

 prime ; and that long after the mouth has lost its 

 marks, provided the legs and feet remain lirm and 

 sound, a horse should not be rejected. 



