386 EXAMINATION OF HORSES AS TO SOUNDNESS 



variation within the limits of health, according among other things to 

 condition, formation of the face, setting on of the head, temperament, &c. 

 Space will not allow us to examine these several questions here. Suffice it 

 to say that any noise which partakes of the nature of roaring or whistling is 

 an indication of unsoundness, and denotes the existence of some obstructive 

 disease in the respiratory passage leading to the lungs. In a very large 

 majority of cases the defect is located in the larynx, the entrance to which 

 becomes narrowed in consequence of paralysis of the small muscles, whose 

 duty it is to keep the passage open. 



Thickening of the mucous membrane of the larynx from cold, influenza, 

 and strangles, enlargement of neighbouring glands, and tumours about the 

 throat may each and all, by their pressure and narrowing influence, be the 

 means of causing roaring. 



Tumours and bony excrescences in the nostrils may also give rise to the 

 nasal form of this unsoundness. 



"Punching" is a test commonly resorted to by dealers, and consists in 

 striking the animal suddenly over the body with a stick or the closed fist, 

 followed up with a succession of feints to repeat it while the animal is 

 firmly held against a wall. The test is not a reliable one, although in 

 the majority of roarers it causes the emission of a deep, sonorous grunt. 

 It is, however, useful in the sale-yard, where no opportunity is afforded 

 of resorting to other means. 



REMOVAL OF THE SHOES 



The examination will be concluded by having the shoes removed, when 

 the ground-surface of the crust will be exposed, and with it any shelliness 

 or seedy state of the hoof. The latter consists of a cavity extending for 

 some distance up the crust, and unscrupulous dealers sometimes resort 

 to the practice of filling it in with some preparation of pitch and other 

 matters. Care should be taken, therefore, to expose any such deception 

 that may exist. 



