he fourth year, in like manner he sheds the same number,
being the incisors adjoining those previously lost, and at that age
also the teeth called canine begin to appear. At the beginning of the
fifth year he loses two more incisors, and at that time the new teeth
show hollow. In the sixth year the new teeth begin to fill out their
cavities, and by the seventh usually all have been renewed and the
permanent mouth is made. What is the age of a horse beyond this point
it is not possible to determine accurately, except that when the teeth
project and the eye brows are white and have hollows under them, it is
considered that a horse is sixteen years old.

"A breeding mare should be of medium size, for it is not fitting that
they should be either very large or very small, but the quarters and
belly should be broad.

"A breeding stallion on the other hand should be chosen with a large
body, well made and all his parts in harmony. What sort of horse it
will turn out to be can be determined from the points of the foal, for
it should exhibit a small head: limbs well knit together: a black eye,
wide nostrils: ears well pricked: a mane which is thick, dark and
curly, of fine hairs and falling on the right side of the neck: a
breast broad and well developed: strong shoulders: a moderate belly:
the loins flat and rising to the quarters: long shoulder blades: a
back bone well doubled [with ridges of meat] but if these are not
prominent in no event should the bone itself stand out: a tail large
and curly: legs straight and even and rather long: knees round and
small and not turned in as you look at them: hard hoofs: veins visible
all over the body (for a horse of this kind is fit for treatment when
he is sick).

"The breed is of the greatest importance, for there are many. In this
respect the celebrated breeds take the names of the countries from
which they come: thus in Greece we have the Thessalian breed: in Italy
the Apulian from Apulia, and the Rosean from Rosea.[140]

"It is a sign that they will make good horses if, when at pasture
with the herd, the colts contend with one another for superiority in
running or in any thing else, or if when a stream is to be crossed
they leap it at the head of the herd and do not look back for the
others.

"Horses are bought in almost the same manner as cattle or asses,
because they change ownership by similar formalities, all of which are
set forth in the book of Manilius.

"Horses shoul