The horse's mouth, showing the age by the teethMayhew, Edward
Science
The horse's mouth, showing the age by the teeth
Mayhew, Edward
Horses -- Age
for the gentlemen who display their ingenuity on horses, are not averse
to occasionally mutilating the human frame. To lay bare and detect such
low, mean, and obvious cheatery, as the above, properly belongs to the
police; and the least acute of the force, ought to be equal to the
detection of so gross an imposition. The swelling, when caused by
inflation, always has an unnatural aspect, such as a school-boy would
find no difficulty in recognising, after his attention has been directed
to the point. It looks puffed, and when the jaw moves, the part does not
play freely with the motion. These circumstances, at a glance, declare
the cheat which the pressure of the hand can, in an instant, prove to
have been practised. The artifice, however, when adopted, ought to be of
no avail. Young horses often exhibit the depression above the eye, of
great depth; nor is it unusual to see old animals, in which the cavity
is naturally shallow. The qualified judge, therefore, glances at, but
never permits the state of, the part, to influence his decision; and the
trick, when resorted to, can impose only on those who are too vain to
acknowledge their ignorance, or too mean to pay for protection. Other
indications are of greater worth, and to these, observation is directed.
The roundness or flatness of the cheek, the sharpness or fulness of the
lower jaw, no art can imitate: these, consequently, receive more
attention. The eye is directed to the mouth; and still supposing the
reader to be present at such places as the parties who practise tricks
with horse flesh mostly frequent, let him be thought desirous of
purchasing the animal, and therefore proceed with an examination: it
will not be long before the teeth will be inspected. When the lips are
separated, the incisors may be long and horizontal in their
inclination; and, by the time this is noted, the seller probably has
volunteered the information, that the horse he is most reluctantly
obliged to part from, was six years old last grass. The expression of
surprise such a statement elicits, is answered by oaths as to the fact,
and direct accusations of ignorance against any one who would assert the
animal to be a day older. The jaws are pulled asunder, and all the marks
are seen. Here is proof; no man who knows anything of horses, he is
told, would reject such evidence; and a host of ready bye-standers stare
at the mouth, and only doubt if the creature is full six _yet_. The
judge also looks at the marks, and then walks away: he has formed his
opinion, and the sight of the marks confirms him in the conclusion he
had arrived at. The absence of the police may caution him not to expose
himself by noticing the shout of defiance, and bellowed taunts, that
signalize his retreat; but he has seen the animal is a "bishop." Now
what promoted the poor brute to ecclesiastical dignity? The term in
horse slang, simply means that the marks are not natural, but have been
made. There are two means by which that can be done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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