Age of Horses, 103 



out upper tusks, even to the end of their lives ; but 

 this is not common. The appearance of the lower tusks, 

 and them fully grown, is the most certain proof that 

 the horse is five years old, even if one of his colt's teeth 

 remains unshed. At six years old, the grooves and 

 hollows in a horse's mouth begin to fill up a little, and 

 their tusks have their full growth, with their points 

 sharp, and a little concave, or hollow on the inside. 

 At seven years old, the grooves and hollows will be 

 pretty well filled below, except the corner teeth, leav- 

 ing, where the dark brown hollows formerly were, lit- 

 tle brown spots. At eight, the whole of the hollows 

 and grooves are fiUed up, and you see the appearance 

 of what is termed smooth below. At nine years old 

 there very often appears a small bill to the putside 

 corner teeth ; the point of the tusk is worn off, and 

 the part that was concave begins to fill up and become 

 rounding ; the squares of the middle teeth begin to 

 disappear, and the gums leave them small and narrow 

 at the top. Dealers in horses sometimes drill or hol- 

 low the teeth with a graver, and black the hollows by 

 using a hot iron, for the purpose of passing an old horse 

 for a young one, upon those who have but little or no 

 experience uj^on the subject. But a discerning eye 

 will readily discover the cheat, by the unnatural shape 

 and blackness of the hollows, the dullness and round 

 ness of the tusks, together T\ith the want of squares to 

 the front, and by many other visible marks, which de- 

 note the advanced age of a horse. 



Between nme and ten years of age, a horse general- 

 ly loses the marks of the mouth, though there are a 

 iew exceptions; as some horses retain good mouths un- 



