498 HORSE-DEALING. 



other, attached to it. Even the best judges of horse- 

 flesh have purchased horses without having de- 

 tected deeply seated cataracts, which shows the 

 necessity of caution ; and the best security is, the 

 inspection of a professional man, who is alone equal 

 to form a correct opinion on the subject, which will 

 be at once apparent on perusal of Mr. PercivaPs 

 sixty-first lecture " on the eye,'' Part III., p. 131. 



" The Teeth for the Age" are also made sub- 

 servient to fraud, and sometimes by the breeder. 

 A three-year colt is passed off as a four-year-old, 

 by pulling out a milk or sucking tooth on each 

 side of the two central ones, and then the other 

 two, or the horse teeth, make their appearance 

 much sooner than they otherwise would, and the 

 colt brings a four-year-old price, whereas he is, in 

 fact, but a few months more than three. The old 

 trick of Bishopping, as it is called, from Bishop 

 having been the name of the rogue Avho invented 

 it, although it may deceive an experienced buyer, 

 will fail in doing so by one who has had much 

 experience in horses, because there are other cri- 

 teria than the teeth, which mark the age of horses. 

 The latter would not reject a horse if he liked him, 

 and did not object to his price, merely because his 

 mouth is too old to express his age. He w^ould esti- 

 mate the probability of his future services by the 

 state of his leo's and feet, as also of his constitu- 

 tion, all of which are often worn out before a horse 

 arrives at what may be called his maturity — 

 namely, seven or eight years old. 



There can scarcely be deception as to broken 



