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off" — the first phrases indicating that the colt is yet 

 between its second and third year, or will in a month 

 or more be three years old, and the last term mean- 

 ing that the animal has attained its third year, and 

 has recently entered the fourth year of its existence. 

 The season here materially aids the judgment ; for if 

 a blood horse shows a fair three-year old mouth in 

 December, it is unhesitatingly pronounced to be 

 " coming three ;" and if it exhibits the same appear- 

 ance in January the animal is declared to be " three 

 off."" The same holds good with the coarser breeds, 

 only, as before stated, the month of April would 

 then be estimated as that of December in the former 

 case, and May would answer to January. " Coming 

 three," however, can, with a little stretching of the 

 term, be applied to any foal ; and is commonly 

 used when the colt is strictly but "two off;" for the 

 terms are somewhat loosely used, though in their 

 stringent sense a horse is only rising three, four, 

 or five, after the mouth has began to assume the form 

 which characterizes the respective ages. When the 

 colt is two off, that is two years and three months 

 old, the milk teeth are all retained, and to a casual 

 observer, the mouth would still say " two." A little 



