TO THE HORSK. 



sion has been drawn from the appearances which they present. 

 It cannot be doubted that the mark remains in them for some 

 years after it has been obliterated in the nippers of the lower 

 jaw. 



" There are various opinions as to the intervals between the 

 disappearance of the marks from the different cutting teeth of 

 the upper jaw.* Some have averaged it at two years, some at 

 one. The author is inclined to adopt the latter opinion, and 

 then the age will be thus determined. At nine years the mark 

 will be worn from the middle nippers, from the next pair at ten, 

 and from all the upper nippers at eleven. During these periods 

 the tush is likewise undergoing a manifest change. It is blunter, 

 shorter, and rounder. In what degree this takes place in the 

 different periods, long and favorable opportunities can alone 

 enable the horseman to decide.^ 



" The alteration in the form of the tushes is frequently un- 

 certain It will sometimes be blunt at eight, and at others 

 remain pointed at eighteen. 



" After eleven, and until the horse is very old, the age may 

 be guessed at with some degree of confidence, from the shape 

 of the upper surface, or extremity of the nippers. At eight 

 they are all oval, the length of the oval running across from 

 tooth to tooth ; but as the horse gets older, the teeth diminish 

 in size — and this commencing in their width and not in their 

 thickness. They become a little apart from each other, and 

 their surfaces become round instead of oval. At nine, the cen- 

 tre nippers are evidently so ; at ten, the others begin to have 

 the oval shortened. At eleven, the second pair of nippers are 

 quite rounded, and at thirteen, the corner ones have also that 

 appearance. At fourteen, the faces of the central nippers 

 become somewhat triangular. At seventeen, they are all so. 



* How entirely doubtful, not to say fallacious, these indications must be held, it 

 is only necessary to attend to the admitted variation of the best opinions on the 

 subject. Mr. Youatt only inclines to his own belief. If the other, by chance, be 

 the true one, his nine-year-old will be ten, his ten-year-old eleven, his eleven-year- 

 old twelve. Q. E. D. H. W. H. 



f The very next sentence shows that nothing can enable any one to decide. 

 Since, if the same signs are occasionally present at eight and at eighteen years, de- 

 cision is impossible, and guess-work must be no more than vague and blind, as to 

 what these signs may or may not indicate. H. W. H. 



