THE AGE. 73 



whether he be two or six more, provided he is 

 under twenty, and fresh and able-like in his ap- 

 pearance. If he has been well taken care of 

 while youngs he may be as good a horse at four- 

 teen or sixteen, as, I am sorry to say, most of 

 those now met with, are at ten, in consequence 

 of being too soon, and far two liardly worked. 

 The purchaser need not reject a horse because 

 his mouth is too old to express his age ; if his 

 limbs appear clean and firm, it is a pretty certain 

 sign that he is yet able to do much work, as far 

 as age is concerned : for few, far too few, horses 

 become useless from natural decay. In ninety 

 cases out of a hundred, the animal is driven, if 

 I may say so, to old age, and then almost every 

 part of his frame bears testimony to the fact. 



Besides the teeth, some conclusion may be 

 drawn regarding the animal's age from his gen- 

 eral appearance. When old or worn out, (for 

 here they are nearly synonymous terms,) he is 

 listless to excess, regardless of surrounding ob- 

 jects, heedless of either the whip or the voice of the 

 driver, and apparently, but only apparently, insen- 

 sible to pain. The spine becomes curved down~ 

 wards, while the bones composing it form a ridge 



