Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

FARRIERY.
Part II.
Anatomy called In tlie horfe ; its tuberofity ; its lower head,
of the behind is feen the cavity for the reception of the olecra-
Horfe' non; t4, r, ulna ; the upper part forms the olecranon
Uj"—y. or elbow, the lower part is united by ligamentous
fibres to the radius •, s, s, the radius 5 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
the carpus or knee $ 1, 1, pifiform j 2, 2, fcaphoid j
3, 3, lunar; 4, unciform ; 5, magnum 5 6, cuneiform ;
7, trapezoid ; «, metacarpus ; t, canon j two fmall
metacarpals •, v, w, x, ij, 25, phalanges •, v, firft pha¬
lanx or paftern; w, fefamoids; x, coronet-bone, or
little paftern ; y, coffin j 2;, navicular or nut-bone.
Bones of the Hind Extremity. E. E.
/i, ii, iy /, my Thigh-bone *, //, the neck, above which
is the head received into the focket of the pelvis •, /, great
trochanter 5 k, the outer trochanter j /, /, the inner tro¬
chanter j m, m, the anterior condyles 5 «, n, the pofte-
rior ditto ; p, pr femilunar cartilage ; 0, 0, knee-pan or
patella ; g, tibia or leg-bone, commonly called the
thigh ; r, fibula j ther tibia is feen terminating in its
maleoli, to articulate with the tarfusj 1,2, 3,4, 5,6, 7,8,
tarfus or hock; 1, 2, I, 2, calces, forming the point of
the hock, in man the heel 5 3, 4, aftragalus; 5, 5, great
cuneiform bone ; 6, cuboid bone } 7, middle cunei¬
form bone $ 8, fmall cuneiform bone ; s, s, t, t, meta-
tarfus $ Sy s, canon or (hank 5 t, t, two fmall metatarfals;
Uy paftern j Vy fefamoids ; iu, coronet-bone or leffer
paftern j Xy Xy coffin bone \ y, navicular or nut-bone.
Of the Teeth.
160 A male horfe has 40 teeth, when he has completed
Teeth. £u^ number. The mare has ufually but 36.
They are divided into three kinds j the cutting teeth
or nippers j the cufpidatte or tufties, and the molares or
grinders. A knowledge of the horfe’s teeth and of the
changes which they undergo, from their firft appear¬
ance, is of the greateft confequence, as from it we de¬
rive the fureft marks of the age of the horfe; at leaft,
till he is eight or nine years old.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, ffiew the appearance of the
teeth from their firft cutting to the age of eight years.
Fig. 2. ffiews the appearance of the colt’s teeth at
the age of three weeks j fig. 3. that of the colt’s teeth
at three months. Fig. 4. ffiews the ftate of the teeth
from three months to about four or five years, where
a, a, are the pincers or nippers j by b, what are called
the feparators $ c, f, the corners, or the laft of the front
teeth at that age j d, d, the talks. Fig. 5. ffiews the
appearance of the teeth at the age of five years, and
figs. 6, 7, and 8, their appearance at the refpe&ive ages
10I of fix, feven, and eight years.
Means of The age of a horfe is eafily known by his mouth, till
aicertaining he comes eight, after which the ufual marks wear out.
the age of ^ horfe, like many other brute animals, has his teeth
3 0rfe‘ divided into three ranks; viz. his fore-teeth which are
flat and fmooth, his tufties, and his back-teeth. His
back-teeth or jaw-teeth are called his grinders, being
thofe by which a horfe chews and grinds his provender,
and are 24 in number, 12 above and 12 below : they
are ftrong double teeth, with ftiarp edges ; but when a
horfe grows old they wear much fmoother.
The firft that grow are his foal-teeth, which begin to
appear a few months after he is foaled : they are 12 in
number, fix above and fix below j and are eafily dil-
tinguiffied from the teeth that come afterwards by their
ffnallnefs and whitenefs, not unlike the fore-teeth of a
man.
When the colt is about two years and a half old
he calls the four middlemoft of his foal-teeth, viz. two
above and two below : but fome do not call any of their
foal-teeth till they are near three years old. The new
teeth are eafily diftinguilhed from the foal-teeth, being
much ftronger, and always twice their fize, and are call¬
ed the incifors or gatherers, being thofe by w'hieh a
horfe nips off the grafs when he is feeding abroad in
the fields, or in the houfe gathers his hay from the rack.
When a horfe has got thefe four teeth complete, he is
reckoned three years old.
When he is about three and a half, or in the fpring
before he is four years old, he calls out four more of his
foal-teeth, viz. two above and two below, one on each
fide the nippers or middle teeth : fo that when you look
into a horfe’s mouth, and fee the two middle teeth full
grown, and none of the foal-teeth except the common
teeth remaining, you may conclude he is four that year
about April or May. Some indeed are later colts, but
that makes little alteration in the mouth.
The tulhes appear near the fame time with the fout
laft mentioned teeth, fometimes fooner than thofe, and
fometimes not till after a horfe is full four years old : they
are curved like the taffies of other beafts 5 only in a young
horfe, they have a ffiarp edge all round the top and on
both fides, the infide being fomewhat grooved and flat-
tiffi, inclined to a hollownefs.
When a horfe’s tuffies do not appear for fome time
after the foal teeth are call and the new ones come in
their room, it is generally owing to the foal-teeth having
been pulled out before their time by the breeders or
other dealers in horfes, to make a colt of three years
old appear like one of four, that he may be the more
faleable ; for when any of the foal-teeth have been pul¬
led out, the others foon come in their places ; but the
tuffies having none that go before them, can never make
their appearance till their proper time, viz. when a horfe
is about four or coming four $ and, therefore, one of the
fureft marks to know a four years old horfe is by his
tufties, which are then very fmall and ffiarp on the top
and edges.
When a horfe comes five, or rather in the fpring be*
fore he is five, the corner teeth begin to appear, and at
firft but juft equal with the gums, being filled with fleffi
in the middle. The tuffies are alfo by this time grown
to a more diftinft fize, though not very large ; they
likewife continue rough and (harp on the top and edges.
But the corner teeth are now moft to be remarked ;
they differ from the middle teeth in being more fleftiy
on the infide, and the gums generally look rawiffi upon
their firft (hooting out ; whereas the others do not ap¬
pear in this way. The middle teeth arrive at their full
growth in lefs than three weeks ; but the corner teeth
growf leifurely, and are feldom much above the gums
till a horfe is full five : they differ alfo from the other
fore-teeth, in this, that they fomewhat refemble a (hell j
and thence are called the ffiell-teeth, becaufe they en¬
viron the flefti in the middle half-way round : and as
they grow, the fleffi within difappears, leaving a diftindt
hollownefs and opennefs on the infide. When a horfe
is full five, thefe teeth are generally about the thicknefs
of a crown-piece about the gums. From five to five
3 I 2 and
435
Anatomy
of the
Hovfe.