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Teeth and the Horse's AgeEvery knowledgeable horse owner should be able to tell, with a glance at the horse's teeth, whether he or she is dealing with a young or an old horse. Narrowing a horse's age down to a year or two is more difficult, but with practice, it can be a useful skill when it comes to buying an unregistered horse. Three substances enter into the composition of all teeth, the dentine, enamel and cement. The dentine is the yellow-white, bone-like material which makes up the grater part of the tooth and surrounds the pulp cavity. The enamel is the shiny white layer which extends over the exposed portion of tooth and which is seated upon the underlying dentine The cement is simply connective tissue converted into bone, and it is spread over parts of the exterior of the tooth. Two sets of teeth are grown by the horse, the temporary or milk teeth, and the permanent teeth. An adult male horse has 12 molars, 6 incisors, 2 canines and occasionally one or two wolf teeth on each jaw. In the temporary teeth there are 6 incisors and only 6 molars (the first three on each side) on each jaw of the young horse. The incisors, the front three pair of teeth, are called the centrals, laterals, and corners. The canine teeth or tushes are placed a little further back in the space between the incisors and the check teeth or molars. They are usually present only in the male but small ones are common in the female. The canine teeth appear at 3 1/2 to 4 years of age and are fully developed at 4 1/2 to 5 years. They are absent in the 2 year old. The teeth of the horse become worn on the top from the grinding action during chewing, and as the horse ages the neck of the tooth is pushed up out of the jaw bone. This goes on throughout the horse's life and at successive periods in the horse's existence, the crown, then the neck and lastly the fang of the tooth are in wear. In the aged horse the incisors appear to be very long due to the increase in length of their visible portion. But the actual length of the tooth has decreased, because much has been worn off the top portion and less of the tooth is imbedded in the jaw bone. The actual length of the horse's teeth do not increase after the horse is five years old. Although the changes in horses' teeth vary somewhat with the health, breed and environment of the animal, the examination of the teeth still remains a fairly reliable method to determine the age.
A bit of practice while using this and information from other sources, will help you to determine the horse's age. Examine your own horse's teeth carefully, then have some fun by going to a friends stable and make an educated guess at the horses' ages. The owner can then tell you how close you have come to the right answer. One needs more than luck to keep from being duped by dishonest horse dealers, being familiar with the changes that take place in the horse's teeth is just one aid in helping you make a good decision while horse buying.
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