HERNIA OR RUPTURE 319 



former the abdominal ring through which escape of the gut or omentum is 

 effected is very small, in the latter it is very large. This, however, is not 

 the only reason for the greater liability observed in the one as compared 

 with the other. The habitual upright posture which the stallion assumes 

 in the act of copulation, by relaxing the abdominal muscles and causing 

 the intestines to gravitate towards the inguinal region, favours, as in man, 

 their entrance into the inguinal canal, and especially so when the digestive 

 organs are distended with food. The less frecpient causes are severe efforts 

 at draught in deep ground, slipping, rolling, rearing, and kicking. 



Symptoms. — The inguinal canal being situated in the region of the 

 groin, and practically out of view, the presence of inguinal hernia may 

 be overlooked unless conditions arise in it to provoke pain and draw 

 attention to the affected part. It is by no means a rare occurrence for 

 veterinary surgeons and castrators to find a portion of omentum or " kell ", 

 and even a piece of intestine, in the scrotum while removing the testicles, 

 which was not suspected to exist before the purse was laid open; and one 

 or the other of these structures may be lodged in the inguinal canal at 

 the time of operation, and descend and protrude from the scrotal wound 

 after the testicles have been removed and the animal has been allowed 

 to rise. It would appear, therefore, that both inguinal and scrotal hernia 

 may sometimes exist without occasioning symptoms or any inconvenience 

 to the animal whatever. There is no doubt, too, that portions of omentum, 

 and maybe intestine also, which find their way into the inguinal canal 

 during the descent of the testicles, return again spontaneously into the 

 abdominal cavity as the foal acquires strength and age advances. 



STRANGULATED INGUINAL HERNIA 



It is more especially in stallions advanced in years, and who have been 

 much used at the stud, that inguinal hernia calls for active treatment. 

 Here. the internal abdominal ring having become enlarged, a knuckle of 

 intestine is permitted to enter the inguinal canal. If in this confined 

 space it becomes distended with food and gas, as is most likely to occur, 

 the pressure from within and the resistance from without, by interfering 

 with the circulation, ends in swelling and strangulation of the gut at or 

 about the internal abdominal ring. It is under these circumstances that 

 symptoms are developed which draw attention to the disease. The animal 

 is restless, paws the ground, stretches himself out, and gives evidence of 

 abdominal pain by looking back at the flank, crouching and lying down, 

 or he sits on his haunches like a dog. The hind -limbs are moved 

 somewhat stiffly in progression, and the testicle on the affected side in 



