— 85 — 

 How to Tell the Age of a Horse. 



To tell the age of a horse by his teeth several 

 factors have to be taken into consideration — the 

 number of teeth, the formation, notches on the 

 teeth, the slant of the teeth, as well as the reced- 

 ing of the gums. Up to and including the age of 6 

 years it is comparatively easy to tell the age of a 

 horse by his teeth, that is, by the number of teeth 

 only. After this period all factors enumerated 

 have to be taken into consideration to adequately 

 judge the age of a horse. 



The horse, when developed, has 40 teeth in 

 all; the mare usually 36, rarely 40. Then the 

 canines, that is, the eye and stomach teeth, are 

 rudimentary and small in the mare and not so 

 well developed as in the horse. The horse usually 

 has two central, temporary incisors when born, 

 and they show clear within the first week, and 

 three molars also appear during this period. At 

 the end of the third or fourth week the second 

 incisors or cutting teeth can be seen peeping out 

 from under the gums, and at the end of the sixth 

 to eighth week the cutting teeth, incisors, and the 

 crushing teeth, molars, are all up and formed so 

 the horse can chew its food. From this time until 

 the seventh month no change of consequence, 

 further than growth of the existing teeth, takes 

 place. At the eighth or ninth month the corner 

 cutting teeth are through and almost on a level 

 with the other incisor teeth. From ninth to 

 twelfth month the fourth crushing tooth, which 

 is permanent, appears. Let me add here that the 

 teeth of a year-old horse look very much like a 

 5-year-old, but one should be able to distinguish 

 the horse from the yearling readily. A mistake 

 can only be made with a pony left to shift for 



