2o8 JUDGING HORSES 



of any other animal in that they have a deep cavity in the 

 center of the wearing surface. This cavity, which is partly 

 filled with a sort of cement, becomes darkened with deposits 

 of food, and is usually called the " cup " or " mark " of the 

 tooth. As the horse advances in age, the tooth wears down 

 about the cup, and in time it disappears from the tooth. 

 It takes about three years for the cups to disappear from 

 the teeth of the lower jaw, and about six years for them to 

 . disappear from the upper jaw, because in the upper teeth the 

 cups are deeper. From the age of five years the principal 

 changes in the appearance of the teeth are as follows. 

 At about the age of six years the cups or marks have dis- 

 appeared from the lower central incisors, at the age of seven 

 years the cups disappear from the lower incisors next the 

 central pair, and at the age of eight years the cups have 

 disappeared from all the lower incisors. At about the age 

 of nine years the cups disappear from the upper central 

 incisors ; they disappear from the incisors next to the central 

 upper pair at the age of ten years, and at the age of eleven 

 years no cups are to be found on the incisor teeth of the 

 horse. As the horse advances in age the teeth seem to 

 project forward as viewed from the side, and the wearing 

 surface of the teeth becomes triangular in form with the base 

 of the triangle next to the lips of the animal. 



In judging, it is well to be able to tell the age of horses 

 by the teeth up to the age of five years, so that a horse will 

 not be allowed to enter a wrong class according to age. 

 The teeth of horses are often " bishoped " or chipped out, 

 and made to appear like those of young horses. 



Height. — The height of the horse is reckoned in " hands." 

 A " hand " is four inches. The height is measured by a 

 vertical line let fall from the top of the withers to the ground 



