46 



24. To know the temporary from the per7nanent 

 teeth, or to be able to distinguish one from the 

 other, is very essential ; but such knowledge is not 

 so common as may be generally imagined. Dealers 

 have blundered, and many a gentleman having pur- 

 chased a yearling for a horse, has aftervs^ards been 

 surprised to discover that the animal was losing 

 some of its front teeth. These kind of mistakes are 

 mostly confined to the smaller breeds — with ponies 

 the incident is common enough, but even with 

 horses it has occurred. I may therefore be excused 

 if I enter rather minutely into those points of dif- 

 ference which distinguish the one from the other. 

 The reader must be content to study well this portion 

 of the treatise, for the age is best marked by the 

 number of milk teeth retained in the jaw, and easiest 

 told during those years when these teeth are in the 

 course of being shed. 



25. To recognize a milk incisor tooth the reader 

 must bear in mind that it is of a temporary nature, 

 and intended only to exist during the few first years 

 of the animal's life, or during its colthood ; for when 

 all the permanent teeth are fairly up, the creature 



