12 



HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



fiance will {hew with what obftinate perfeverance they 

 have been known to obferve the line of their order : — 

 Some years ago, one of thefe Horfes, which had been 

 long accuftomed to follow his leader, by accident or fa- 

 tigue, was thrown into an inferior rank : The poor ani- 

 mal, as if fenfible of his difgrace, by the molt ftrenuous 

 exertions, at length recovered his ufual ftation, which he 

 maintained during the remainder of the journey ; but, on 

 his arrival in the inn-yard, he dropped down dead upon 

 the fpot, his life falling a facrifice to his ambition-^a 

 fpecies of heroifm we muft admire even in the brute cre- 

 ation. 



At the age of two years*, the Horfe is in a condition 

 to propagate. — The mare is generally in feafon from the 



* There are various ways of judging of the age of a Horfe. 

 The following are the moft general : — the eye-pits of old Horfes 

 are commonly hollow; but that mark is equivocal, young Horfes, 

 begot by old ftallions, having them alfo hollow — The teeth afford 

 the beft criterion of the age of Horfes. The Horfe has, in all, 

 forty teeth; viz. twenty-four grinders, four canine teeth or tulks, 

 and twelve fore teeth : Mares have either no tulks, or very fhort 

 ones. Five days after birth, the four teeth in front begin to ihoot : 

 Thefe are called nippers, and are caft at the age of two years and 

 a half: They are foon renewed: And the next year, he again 

 cafts two above, and two below, — one on each fide of the nippers. 

 At four years and a half, other four fall out, next thofe laft placed : 

 Thefe laft four foal teeth are fucceeded by other four, which grow 

 much more flowly than the firft eight : And it is from thefe laft 

 four corner teeth, that the age of the Horfe is diftinguifhed : They 

 are fomewhat hollow in the middle, and have a black mark in the 

 cavities. At five years, thefe teeth fcarcely rife above the gums ; 

 at fix, their cavities begin to fill up, and turn to a brownilh fpot, 

 like the eye of a garden bean ; and before eight years, the mark 

 generally difappears. — The tulks alfo indicate the age of a Horfe. — 

 Thofe in the under jaw generally fhoot at the age of three years 

 and a half; and the two in the upper jaw at four : Till fix, they 

 continue lharp at the points ; but at ten, they appear long and 

 blunted. — Thefe are the general rules for afcertaining the age of a 

 Horfe ; but there are frequent exceptions, as fome Horfes retain 

 the mark two or three years longer. 



* 



