94 AGE OF HOESES. 



" full moutli " (all his incisors permanent) in June, but 

 his corner incisors showed little or no wear, he should, of 

 course, be then aged as a four-year-old, who, two months 

 later, would become a five-year-old. At the worst, we 

 could, here, be only a couple of months out. But if we 

 put him down as five, we should be adding on, at least, 

 nine or ten months to his age. If a colonial animal in, 

 say, September showed the condition of mouth just 

 described, we should age him as five years old ; for if we 

 put him down as four, we should be giving our sanction 

 to an animal at least four years and nine months, remaining 

 a four-year-old for another eleven months ! In India, 

 Arabs and country breds are aged from the 1st January. 

 Here, again, if we had to age in, say, September, an 

 Arab which had his corner and middle milk incisors, it 

 would be right to age him as a three-year-old if there 

 was a doubt as to his retaining the latter until the 1st 

 of the following January. 



I may mention that the term rising is, as a rule, 

 applied to a horse's age, when it is less than that which 

 is stated ; and off, when it is more. The former is used 

 when the birthday is comparatively near at hand ; the 

 latter, when it has recently past. Thus, a horse " rising- 

 five " is a four-year-old which is nearer five, than four. 

 An animal "four off," is a four-year-old that is nearer 

 four, than five. 



