avery's own farrier. 147 



teeth look longer and the arch higher, until it takes the 

 shape of a gothic roof, so that the smaller and rounder 

 the teeth, and the more the gum approximates this shape, 

 the greater the age of the horse must be. Now these 

 marks of the teeth seldom, if ever, all fail in the same 

 mouth. Though one or two may vary a few years, a 

 majority of them will disclose the truth as to the real 

 age, &c. 



'* The general indications of old age, independent of 

 the teeth, are deepening of the hollows over the eyes, 

 gray hairs about the forehead and nose, thinness and 

 hanging down of the lips, sharpness of the withers, and 

 sinking of the back, accompanied with a tetering gait." 



Much can be told by the general appearance and 

 action of the horse relative to his age. But this is not 

 all; there are certain marks whereby the age may be 

 determined pretty accurately by a close observer. Until 

 he arrives at the age of seven or eight years old, the 

 eyelids are marked only by very fine wrinkles that num- 

 ber from six to eight. Every successive year after this, 

 there is an evident deepening of one of those wrinkles 

 that the age maybe counted from, after he is eight years 

 old, when the gray hairs will begin to appear. Although 

 these marks are not very reliable to the casual observer, 

 yet some may profit by them. 



There is another method of knowing when a horse is 

 past twelve years old, viz: the inside of the nostrils are 

 red or flesh color, which comes down on a true circle 

 generally within an inch or two of the rim or hair on 

 the muzzle. Below the edge of this red circle, the color 

 of the nostril is of a darker tint, varying according to the 



