HOW TO KNOW THE AGE OF A HORSE

The colt is born with twelve grinders. When four front teeth have made their appearance, the colt is twelve days old; and when the next four come forth, it is four weeks old. When the corner teeth appear the colt is eight months, and when the latter have attained to the height of the front teeth, it is one year old. The two-year-old colt has the kernel (the dark substance in the middle of the tooth’s crown) ground out of all the front teeth. In the third year the middle front teeth are being shifted; and when three years old, these are substituted by the horse teeth. The next four teeth are shifted in the fourth year, and the corner teeth in the fifth. At six years the kernel is worn out of the lower middle front teeth, and the bridle teeth have now attained to their full growth. At seven years a hook has been formed on the corner teeth of the upper jaw; the kernel of the teeth next to the middle fronts is worn out, and the bridle teeth begin to wear off. At eight years of age the kernel is worn out of all the lower front teeth, and begins to decrease in the middle upper fronts. In the ninth year the kernel has wholly disappeared from the upper middle front teeth, the hook in the corner teeth has increased in size, and the bridle teeth lose their points. In the tenth year the kernel is worn out of the teeth next to the middle fronts of the upper jaw; and in the eleventh year the kernel has entirely vanished from the corner teeth of the same jaw. At twelve years the crown of all the front teeth in the lower jaw has become triangular, and the bridle teeth are much worn down. As the horse advances in age the gums shrink away from the teeth, which consequently receive a long, narrow appearance, and their kernels have become metamorphosed into a darkish point, gray hairs increase in the forehead, over the eyes, and the chin assumes the form of an angel. Practical Farmer.

Related Link: Telling a Horse's Age by It's Teeth