560 



HOW TO TELL THE AGE. 



FIG. 310. One year old. 



five to six weeks, another incisor will appear on either side of the 

 two first, and the mouth will appear something like cut 308. 

 At two months they will have reached their 

 natural level, and between the second and 

 third months, the second pair will have 

 overtaken them. They will then begin to 

 wear away a little, and the outer edge, 

 which was at first somewhat raised and 

 sharp, is brought to a level with the inner 

 one, and so the mouth continues until some 

 time between the sixth and ninth months, 

 when another nipper begins to appear on 

 each side of the two first, making six above and below, and com- 

 pleting the colt's mouth ; after which, the only observable differ- 

 ence, until between the second and 

 third years, is in the wear of these 

 teeth. 



These teeth are covered with a pol- 

 ished, hard substance, called enamel. 

 It spreads over that portion of the teeth 

 which appears above the gum ; and not 

 only so, but as they are to be so much 

 employed in nipping the grass, and 

 gathering up the animal's food, (and in 

 such employment even this hard sub- 

 stance must be gradually worn away,) 



a portion of it, as it passes over the up- 

 per surface of the teeth, is bent inward, 

 and sunk into the body of the teeth, 

 and forms a little pit in them. The in- 

 side and bottom of this pit being black- 

 ened by the food, constitutes the mark 

 of the teeth, by the gradual disap- 

 pearance of which, in consequence of 

 the wearing down of the edges, we are 

 enabled, for several years, to determine 

 the age of the horse. 

 The colt's nipping teeth are rounded in front, somewhat hollow 



FIG. 311. Twenty months. 



FIG. 312. Two years. 



