72 THE AGE. 



when we want to go further. Their shape, 

 though by no means so good a criterion as their 

 mark, is yet characteristic enough of age to en- 

 able us to come within a year or two ; and no 

 horseman need foolishly boast of being able to 

 do more, for the thing is of such a nature as to 

 make it morally impossible to draw an infallible 

 conclusion upon any such grounds. 



At ten years, the central nippers, instead of 

 being nearly oval on the wearing surface, as 

 they were at seven, have become narrower from 

 side to side, and broader from before backwards. 



The fang of the nippers tapers towards the 

 extremity, and is narrower from side to side, and 

 broader from before backwards, than the tooth 

 above the gum is ; and as the nipper wears 

 down, it assumes on its surface the shape of a 

 transverse section of the fang at different places. 



At eleven years, the four central nippers are 

 also altered in their shape, and at twelve, the 

 corner teeth have the same shape which the two 

 central ones have at ten, while they have now 

 more distinctly approached to the triangular 

 form of the fang. I need not proceed further 

 and indeed to say the truth, if the horse be 

 above twelve, it is not of much consequence 



