EXAMINATION OF THE MOUTH FOR AGE. 7 



curly condition of the tail seen in yearlings, will clearly 

 prove their youthfulness. These indications are, how- 

 ever, too vague to be of any practical use ; unless, indeed, 

 we are unable to examine the mouth. 



Different hinds of teeth. — A horse with a "full mouth" 

 has forty-two permanent teeth ; namely, twelve incisors 

 (front teeth, or " nippers "), six in each jaw ; four tushes, or 

 canine teeth ; and twenty -four back teeth, or molars. In 

 the mare, the tushes are either absent, or are in a rudi- 

 mentary condition. In some cases, the horse has what 

 are called ^^ wolfs teeth,'^ which have single fangs, and 

 resemble, in this respect, tushes and incisors. When they 

 exist, they are placed in front of the back teeth. " They 

 are found more frequently in the upper than in the 

 lower jaw ; they are rarely met with in both " (Gouhaux 

 and Barrier). We may see in Fig. 6 the arrangement 

 of the teeth. The two front incisors are called the 

 front or centre; the next pair, the middle or lateral; 

 and the two furthest back, the corner incisors. The 

 molars are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, from the front, 

 backwards. 



The first set of incisors which the horse has, are 

 temporary, or " milk " teeth, which are in time replaced 

 by 'perma7ient ones. The tushes and wolf's teeth are 

 permanent, not being preceded by temporary ones. The 

 first three molars on each side of each jaw are, at first, 

 temporary, being, in due course, replaced by permanent 



