CHAP. YI. AGE OF HORSES. 48? 



i 



CHAPTEK VI. 



Or THE AGE, QUALIFICATIONS, AND SAI.E or HORSES. 



THE names by which horses and mares are distinguished while 

 young, are in the case of horses, colt foals during the first year, 

 and afterwards yearlings, then two-year-old colts and three-year-old 

 colts, until four years old; when they become geldings, if castrated, 

 and otherwise entire horses or stallions. 



Mares are called fillies, while sucking ; then yearlings, two- and 

 three-year-old fillies, until four, when they finally acquire the appella- 

 tion of mares. 



The age is calculated from the first of January. 1 Previous to that 

 time, a horse may be said to be rising four, five, or six years old, as 

 the case may be ; but when that is passed, he is four, five, or six years 

 old, until after seven years, when he is termed aged. 



The following hints, relative to the age and the essential characteris- 

 tics of the horse, may not inappropriately form a part of the present 

 chapter: In old horses, the eye-pits are generally deep; although 

 this mark is considered uncertain, as it also occurs in young horses 

 that are descended from aged stallions. There are also a few grey 

 hairs about the face, the lips are thin, and not perfectly closed the 

 withers are high the back is sinking, and the quarters lengthening. 

 There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty about these details, 

 and the only criterion to be depended upon is that derived from the 

 teeth, the number of which amounts to forty ; namely, twenty-four 

 grinders, or double teeth, and sixteen others four tushes or tusks, 

 and twelve cutting or front teeth ; these last are the surest guides 

 for discovering the age of a horse. As mares usually have no 

 tusks, their teeth are only thirty- six. A colt is generally dropped 

 with two grinders on each side, and in seven or eight days the two 



1 It is customary to calculate the ages of all thoroughbreds from January 1, and of other 

 horses from Mayl. The terms "off" and "coming" are employed with the understanding 

 that they mean the addition to or subtraction from the stated age of a few months. Thus 

 " three years off " means three years and about three months ; and " coming four years," 

 means that the horse wants about three months to complete the year. It is not essential 

 that the examiner should conform to usage in respect of the terms above mentioned, unless 

 he thinks fit to accept them ; nor is he compelled to insist that the year shall be completed 

 in all cases on the first of January or May. The statement of the opinion of a horse's age 

 will be made absolutely, and without any reference to an arbitrary standard, which never- 

 theless may, for ordinary purposes, have a certain amount of convenience. 



In reference to horses which are exhibited in different classes at shows, a question has 

 more than once arisen as to the precise meaning or intention of the terms applying to 

 the class, and the question has not yet been answered in a satisfactory manner. For 

 example, an animal entered in the four-year-old class has a condition of dentition which 

 indicates that he is nearly five years old. This may be admitted by the exhibitor, but he 

 also contends that the horse is a four- year-old until he has reached his fifth birthday. II 

 this plea be allowed, it is obvious that a horse foaled in the beginning of the year may have 

 to compete with one which was foaled late in the same year. Professor Sir George Brown, 

 C.B., in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. 



