TO DETEEMINE AGE OF HOESES BY THE TEETH. 55 



It is from birth to the age of eight years that, from the 

 condition of the " marks " or dark cavities in the table of 

 the incisors, we can determine the age of the horse. There 

 are deceptive cases. I especially allude to this, because 

 whatever may be our knowledge of the horse, we may occa- 

 sionally, though very rarely, be deceived by the very marks 

 which are our surest guides. I have seen all the marks per- 

 fect, and the incisors presenting a youthful appearance in a 

 horse verging on twenty. Recently I examined an aged 

 horse, which might have passed for a six-year-old from the 

 shape and marks of the incisors. 



The molar teeth are rarely looked at in determining the 

 age of the horse, but they furnish valuable corroborative 

 evidence on certain occasions, especially with young animals. 

 They are not easily examined, but it is their number which 

 in the colt confirms or negatives the opinion expressed as to 

 the animal's age. The recently-formed molar has a shelly 

 character, and prominent tubercles of enamel which soon wear 

 down to form a broad grinding surface, and then the young 

 and old teeth are not easily distinguished one from the 'Other. 



The horse has six incisors above and six below. They are 

 compound teeth, as shown at Fig. ] 8, and the cavity extends 

 downwards, having beyond and a little in front of it the 

 pulp cavity, which in old horses is indicated, as the teeth 

 wear down, by a dark hard structure, which then fills it, and 

 which has been called osteo-dentine. 



I have before alluded to the difference between the per- 

 manent and temporary incisors. The latter are in perfect 

 apposition as the colt approaches two years of age, and not 

 unfrequently has an animal, and especially a pony, been 

 bought for five from the temporary teeth being mistaken for 

 permanent. 



The temporary incisor is gradually displaced by pressure 



