HOW TO TELL THE AGE OF A HORSE.—The safest way of determining the age of a horse is by the appearance of the teeth, which undergo certain changes in the course of years.
Eight to fourteen days after birth, the first middle nippers of the set of milk teeth are cut; four to six weeks afterwards the pair next to them, and finally, after six or eight months, the last.
All these milk teeth have a well defined body and neck, and a slender fang, and on their front surface grooves or furrows, which disappear from the middle nippers at the end of one year, from the next pair in two years, and from the incisive teeth (cutters) in three years.
At the age of two the nippers become loose and fall out, in their places appear two permanent teeth, with deep, black cavities, and full, sharp edges.
At the age of three, the next pair fall out.
At four years old, the corner teeth fall out.
At five years old, the horse has his permanent set of teeth.
The teeth grow in length as the horse advances in years, but at the same time his teeth are worn away by use about one-twelfth of an inch every year, so that the black cavities of the center nippers below disappear in the sixth year, those of the next pair in the seventh year, and those of the corner teeth in the eighth year. Also the outer corner of upper and lower jaw just meet at eight years of age.
At nine years old, cups leave the two center nippers above, and each of the two upper corner teeth has a little sharp protrusion at the extreme outer corner.