air, as if the
creature whom they adorn were about to soar to heaven.

In a state of freedom, horses are swift, fierce, and inquisitive; they
herd together in large numbers. The males evince the most faithful
attachment to the females, and protect them and their offspring to the
death. The latter are fond and devoted mothers.

In activity, there is no animal which more decidedly takes its character
from its early masters or instructors; their admirable qualities are
heightened; their fierceness becomes courage; their wild actions are
turned into play, and their attachment and sagacity are only surpassed
by those of the dog. On the other hand, most of what are called their
vices may be traced to their early training. Allowances must, of course,
be made for natural disposition, which varies as much in the brute
creation as it does in man; and I have met with ill-tempered horses,
which have been so from the moment they were taken from their native
forests; but generally speaking, the horse becomes the protector, the
companion, the friend, of his possessor. When dead, every part of him is
useful; and when living, all his energies make him one of the greatest
blessings which a beneficent Creator has bestowed on the earthly lord of
all.

Horses' teeth are so important a part of their history, that although
this book does not profess to treat of science, it would be incomplete
if I did not briefly point out how distinctly they shew the age of the
animal. First of all, however, it should be known, that the mouth seems
to have been expressly formed for the bit, by which man controls this
admirable creature; for, corresponding with each angle of the mouth is a
space between the teeth, in which it lodges with the greatest
convenience. The front teeth, or incisors, begin to appear when the
horse is fifteen days old, and amount to six in number in each jaw. All,
from the first, are at the top, or crown, hollowed into a groove. The
two in the middle are shed and replaced at three years and a half, the
two next at four and a half, and the two outside, called the corner
teeth, at seven and a half, or eight. The grooves on the crowns, become
effaced, and the tops of the teeth are more triangular as age increases.
The females have no canine teeth; but the males always have two small
ones in the upper jaw, and sometimes two in the lower; the former appear
when they are four years old, the latter at three and a half; they
remain pointed