118 



HOW TO BUY A HORSE. 



Fig. 6. 



At the age of twenty-one years the teeth of the lower 



jaw become very long 



from front to rear ; this 

 having always been the 

 shape of that part of the 

 tooth which has never 

 until now been made ap- 

 parent. The teeth at this 

 age are represented in figure 6. 



The experience of horsemen has established the follow- 

 ing rules for determining the age from the appearance of 

 the teeth (we adopt the classification of Pessina, a German 

 Veterinary Surgeon) : 



At birth the teeth have not appeared ; six or eight 

 days thereafter the two middle nippers of the set of milk 

 teeth are cut ; the pair next to 

 them are cut at thirty or forty 

 days; and the corner teeth at 

 six to ten months. These teeth 

 have all the mark, or superficial 

 cavity, when first cut ; this how- 

 ever disappears in the teeth of 

 the lower jaw, in the middle nippers, in ten months ; in 

 the next pair at one year ; in the corner teeth at from fif. 

 teen months to two years. 



The milk teet-h give place to the permanent set as fol- 

 lows : the middle nippers at two and a half to three years, 

 the next pair at three and a half to four years, the corner 

 teeth at four and a half to five years,— these periods may 

 by hastened three or four months by pulling or knocking 

 out the milk teeth. 



At five yearSy the corners are up even with the other 

 teeth, the mark is entirely worn out from the middle nip- 

 pers, and partly worn from the next pair (fig. 4). 



Rg. 7. 



