THE AGE OF THE HORSE. 309 
victor over this enemy of our art, and the opinion of the veterinary 
surgeon shall be in fact what it is now but in fancy. 
It is twenty-five years since I commenced attentive observa- 
tion on all matters relative to the horse ; and, during that period, 
I have witnessed all parties connected with the management of 
him, or in any way interested in him as an article of merchandize 
or a means of pleasure, resort to his mouth with every confidence for 
the true registry of his age ; and, if unable to fully satisfy them- 
selves, not for a moment doubting the truth of the tablet, but their 
own inability to judge correctly. I think I may say, without fear of 
contradiction, that most individuals, or by far the greater number, 
know the age of the horse by having acquired the general rule from 
instruction, and not from their own personal observation on the 
progress of dentition and the changes the teeth undergo, as age 
advances, within the mouth itself. It is these latter means to which 
the veterinary profession should undoubtedly resort. That it has 
not generally done so is evident from the opposite opinions that 
have been given ; otherwise we should all agree as to the truth of 
the rule, let the deviations be more or less existent. However, it 
is not too late to do so, and communicate through the medium of 
The Veterinarian such anomalies in the development of the 
teeth as have or shall occur to those in practice. May I also be 
pardoned for taking the liberty of hinting to those who use their 
pen to transmit to their brotherhood of the profession “ pencillings” 
on this or any other veterinary subject! Pray let them be genuine 
and “ unmixed,” otherwise the interest of a professional periodical 
is seriously implicated. 
My own personal observation on the mouths of colts and horses 
has enabled me to say that the mode of testing the age, which for 
jmars past has been taught and practised as a general rule, is per- 
fectly correct ; that there are irregularities in the formation and 
development of the teeth as well as of every other part of the 
body, and they appear earlier in some, and wear away faster in 
others ; that they are irregular in the same mouth, one tooth cut, 
shed, and replaced, much earlier than its fellow. The molars are 
early or late, as they are compared with the incisors, and the upper 
jaw incisors commonly earlier than the lower. In animals of the 
same age, and in every way treated alike, there is often much 
difference: one may commence teething and complete dentition 
several months earlier than the other, depending much on the health 
and vigorous condition of the one over the other. Out of two year- 
lings running in the same paddocks, housed together at night and 
fed and treated every way alike, there occasionally will be three 
or four months difference between them in their size, growth, and 
general development. The one, as the stud groom says, does not 
VOL. XVIII. U U 
