Monday, February 28, 2022

Milliron Monday: Horse Teeth

 

Abbott "Pete" Smith D.V.M.
June 16, 1938 - February 22, 2010
Welcome to Milliron Monday where every Monday we celebrate the legacy of Pete Smith, D.V.M., and  Milliron: Abbott “Pete” Smith, D.V.M. The Biography (Monday Creek Publishing 2017), including his wife Jody (1938-2021). 

"If a horse has 4 cups in 
his mouth, how old is he?"
- Jody Smith
 
Jody's battered green notebook documents all things horse. First, there are several pages of potential names for horses, including unusual and foreign names

The next section is all about horse teeth; how to identify age, details of lateral incisors, corner incisors, central permanent incisors, cups in central incisors, etc., and this poem...

To tell the age of any horse

Inspect the lower jaw, of course.
The sixth front tooth the tale will tell
And every doubt and fear dispel.
 
Two middle "nippers" you behold
Before the colt is two weeks old
Before eight weeks, two more will come
Eight months, the "corners" cut the gum
 
Two outside grooves will disappear
From the middle two in just one year
In two years from the second pair
In three the corners, too, are bare
 
At two, the middle "nippers" drop
At three, the second pair can't stop
When four years old, the third pair goes
At five, a full new set he shows
 
The deep black spots will pass from view
At six years, from the middle two
The second pair at seven years
At eight, the spot each "corner" clears
 
From the middle "nippers" upper jaw
At nine, the black spots will withdraw
The second pair at ten are white
Eleven finds the "corners" light
 
Continued-I'm out of characters!
 
Update: As time goes on, the horsemen know,
The oval teeth, three-sided grow.
They longer get, project before,
Till twenty, which we know no more.

"Gleason's Handbook of Horses" published in 1892


More from the notebook...




  
Have a great week ahead.


Through captivating, powerful, and emotional anecdotes, we celebrate the life of Dr. Abbott P. Smith. His biography takes the reader from smiles to laughter to empathy and tears. Dr. Smith gave us compelling lessons learned from animals; the role animals play in the human condition, the joy of loving an animal, and the awe of their spirituality. A tender and profound look into the life of a skilled veterinarian.

 

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