64 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



meet except at the front corners. This may be seen by our 

 drawing, where the two outer teeth are remarkably low 

 to the gum at the hinder part, towards the gape. 



One Year Old. — Here we see the four middle teeth level, 

 and the two outer ones becoming so. The mark in the 

 middle teeth is wider and fainter ; in the two next it 

 is somewhat darker, longer, and narrower. By this 

 time two pairs of the permanent teeth, the fourth molars, 

 have made their appearance. A yearling has, therefore, 

 twelve incisors and sixteen molars, or twenty-eight teeth 

 in all. Of the molars, we may here remark that they offer 

 little guide as to the age of the animal. Indeed, it is not 

 easy to get a fair look at them ; yet a few particulars are 

 good to be known. They are covered outside with enamel, 

 but not at the top, though several pieces are incorporated, 

 if we may so term it, in the substance of their ivory — not 

 being infundibula or pits as in the incisors, but forming 

 grinding edges of irregular form in the face of the table. 

 The grinders in the lower jaw are much smaller in surface 

 than those of the upper. The wisdom of this provision is 

 evident. The upper molar is fixed, the lower is movable 

 by the lateral grinding motion of the lower jaw. Hence it 

 is passed over the larger surface in the act of triturating 

 the food ; the peculiar action of the horse's jaw in this 

 operation is open to the most superficial observer. 



Two Years Old. — About two years old a fifth grinder 

 is out. The incisors in forward animals show considerable 

 wear. Some care is required now, for the " milk-teeth" 

 are very likely the " horse-teeth" at five years old. The 

 teeth only are now being spoken of; for of course the 

 colt is not " furnished " to the horseman's eye. And now 

 an important process is about to begin. 



The first teeth were adapted to the size and wants of 

 the young animal, and sufficiently large to occupy and to 

 fill the colt's jaws; but when the jaws expand with the 

 increasing growth of the animal, another and larger set is 

 required. Evident provision is made for these, even before 

 the colt is foaled. In cavities in the jaw, beneath the 

 first and temporary teeth, are to be seen the rudiments of 

 a second and permanent set. These gradually increase, 

 some with greater rapidity than others, and, pressing upon 

 the roots or fangs of the first teeth, the consequence of this 

 pressure is, not that the first teeth are forced out, but the 



