116 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



Where in rapid action a horse pants, and his sides 

 heave up quickly, "blowing like a bellows," as the 

 jockeys term it, we may be sure that the wind is 

 seriously affected ; if, besides this, he has a constant 

 hacking cough, we shall not be far out in saying that 

 he is decidedly broken-winded. 



It is not easy to put a horse to his gallop in the 

 confined ride of a stable-yard; nor, if you are so 

 fortunate as to find a dealer that will trust you out 

 of sight, is it desirable to endanger the limbs of pas- 

 sengers : you may " do what you please with your 

 own." We must therefore resort to some more sim- 

 ple, or at least more practicable mode of getting at 

 the truth. 



The common course is to pinch the horse, by press- 

 ing the wind-pipe closely with the finger and thumb, 

 in the hollow of the throat, at the top of the neck : 

 this brings on that husky cough which marks the 

 disease. Many horses, perhaps most, will cough, 

 and that violently, if the pressure is severe, but 

 there is an essential difference between the loud and 

 spasmodic cough which the healthy horse will utter, 

 and the hacking tone of chronic asthma. Until a 

 man has learned to distinguish between the two, he 



