78 AGE OF THE HORSE. 



structions ; tlieu he might examine the mouths of different 

 horses that he knows nothing about ; and if these rules will hold 

 good in describing the marks in the mouth that is well understood 

 by the pupil, they will hold good in determining the ages of 

 horses he knows nothing about. 



The way that the author found out how to tell an old horse's 

 age was by examining every horse he could find, if the horse's 

 age was positively known by the owner. He then observed that 

 different marks as described in this lesson, and now feels satisfied 

 that by these rules the old horse's age — say up to twenty-one 

 — will be known as well as the horse from one to ten. We are so 

 positive that we will invite any scientific horseman or others to 

 make the test. 



In. regard to the different ages of horses we will give a few 

 words of advice. Most people, in buying horses, prefer to get a 

 young horse — from four to five years old. If a gentleman intends 

 purchasing a horse for light work, intending to have him under 

 his own care, it would perhaps be well to buy. such a horse, be- 

 cause the young horse would be likely to improve in value, if 

 properly cared for, and the work light and easy ; but if he were 

 going to purchase a horse to do hard, steady work, it would be 

 better to get one seven or eight years old. 



Many persons, inexperienced in handling and working horses, 

 imagine that when the horse is nine or ten years old, he is rather 

 an old animal, but experience has taught me, if he has not been 

 crippled and injured, by working him when too young, that he 

 is just in his prime. 



If the horse is to be used for staging, street-cars, omnibuses, 

 hacks, or any kind of constant or hard work, a sound ten-year-old 

 horse is the right horse in the right place. 



In travelling through Wisconsin, last year, at a small town 

 called Sharon, where I formed a class, a gentleman named Lowell 

 had a very fine stallion, that was twenty-one years old, shed 



