CHAPTER XVIII. 



TEETH AND TOOTHACHE. 



Is it true, Count, that horses are great sufferers 

 from toothache? I have read that the complaint is 

 the real cause of many a runaway, attributed to 

 viciousness. 



" I believe nothing can be more absurd than such 

 a statement. Decayed teeth in a horse are most 

 imnatural. Of course, if the horse be constantly fed 

 on something sour, which creates fermentation, the 

 enamel may become broken or rotted and the nerve 

 may in time be exposed. In this condition a frosty 

 bit will cause exquisite pain ; but toothache, as we 

 realize it, is something unknown to a well-kept 

 healthy horse. Filing, cleaning, evening, and there- 

 by spoiling the horse's teeth, is gypsy work." 



How do you mean? 



" It is the way gypsies often take to earn a few 

 dollars, and at the same time learn the secrets of 

 your stable. The veterinar)/ surgeon knows better, 

 and nothing is gained by constantly fooling about a 

 horse's mouth. In Europe and in the colleges there 

 such things would excite much merriment and con- 

 tempt — but the subject has been presented to me 

 before in this country." 



The age of a horse is told quite distinctly by his 

 teeth, is it not? But I have never understood just how. 



