146 * THE HORSE. 



which covered'their surface when they were first produced cannot be re- 

 paired, and that which wears this yellow colour in old age is the part 

 which, in youth, was in the socket, and therefore destitute of enamel. 



The upper nippers become arched, and project over the lower ones, 

 wearing down the outer edge, and gradually making that the lowest, which 

 was at first considerably the highest. 



The general indications of old age, independent of the teeth, are deep- 

 ening of the hollows over the eyes,— grey hairs, and particularly over the 

 eyes, and about the muzzle ; thinness and hanging down of the lips ; 

 sharpness of the withers ; sinking of the back ; lengthening of the quar- 

 ters ; and the disappearance of windgalls, spavins, and tumours of every 

 kind. 



Of the natural age of the horse we should form a very erroneous esti- 

 mate, from the early period at which he is now worn out and destroyed. 

 Mr. Blaine tells us of a gentleman, who had three horses, which died at the 

 ages of thirty-five, thirty-seven and thirty-nine. Mr. Cully mentions one 

 that received a ball in his neck, at the battle of Preston, in 1715, and which 

 was extracted at his death, in 1758 ; and Mr. Percival gives an account of 

 a barge horse that died in his sixty-second year. 



There cannot be a severer satire on the English nation, than that, from 

 the absurd practice of running our race-horses at two and three years old, 

 and working others in various ways, long before their limbs are knit, or 

 their strength come, and cruelly exacting from them services far beyond their 

 powers, their age does not average a sixth part of that of the last-mentioned 

 horse. The scientific author of the " Animal Kingdom" declares, that 

 *' it may be safely asserted, that more horses are consumed in England, in 

 every ten years, than in any other country in the world, in ten times that 

 period, except those which perish in war." 



This point has with the English been too long considered as one of mere 

 profit and loss ; and it has been thought to be cheaper to bring the young 

 horse early into work, and in a short time to exhaust his whole strength, 

 than to maintain him for a long period, and at a considerable expense, 

 almost useless. The matter requires much consideration, and we think 

 much reformation too. 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH. 



Of the diseases of the teeth in the horse, we know little. Carious or hol- 

 low teeth have occasionally, but not often, been seen ; but the edges of the 

 o-rinders from the wearing off of the enamel, or the irregular growth of the 

 teeth, become rough, and wound the inside of the cheek ; it is then neces- 

 sary to adopt a summary but effectual method of cure, namely, to rasp 

 them smooth. Many bad ulcers have been produced in the mouth, by the 

 neglect of this. 



The teeth sometimes grow irregularly in length, and this is particularly 

 the case with the grinders, from not being in exact opposition to each 

 other, when the mouth is shut. The growth of the teeth still going on, 

 and there being no mechanical opposition to it, one of the back teeth, or a 

 portion of one of them, shoots up half an inch or more above the others. 

 Sometimes it penetrates the bars above, and causes soreness and ulce- 

 ration ; at other times, it interferes partially, or altogether, with the grind- 

 ing motion of the jaws, and the animal pines away without the cause 

 being suspected. Here the saw should be used, and the projecting portion 

 reduced to a level with the other teeth. The horse which has once been 



