BKOKEN-WIND. 93 



proportion of hay, especially hay that is overripe, heated, 

 old, dusty, or cut up too short. Robertson says that where 

 i( horses are fed on part oat-straw and part hay, both cut 

 rather long, matters are not so bad." Round, shallow- 

 chested horses seem to be predisposed to the disorder. 



Williams says broken-wind "is fast becoming a thing 

 of the past." 



Symptoms. — Inspiration is easy and rather quick, but 

 expiration is a double action, two distinct efforts appar- 

 ently, after which the muscles relax and the flanks fall 

 peculiarly. Respiratory murmur weakened or absent ; loud, 

 sonorous, sibilant wheeze, especially toward back part of 

 chest. Rattling and hissing all over chest ; resonance in- 

 creased, showing that the lungs are distended with air; 

 chest seems rounder, &c. 



Cough : It is so peculiar as to be sometimes called 

 "broken-winded cough." It is more than short — it is half- 

 suppressed or chopped off as it were, and so feeble as to be 

 almost inaudible. It is often followed by wheezing, like 

 asthma in man. At first, and also when it afterward comes 

 on in fits, it is troublesome. When the disease is estab- 

 lished, and there is no special excitement, it is solitary 

 (but once) as well as short and feeble. 



Indigestion : Appetite voracious, yet condition lean and 

 hide-bound looking. Well it may be, for the dung looks 

 like so much chopped hay mixed with oats and husks, caus- 

 ing flatulence and tumid, tense, drum-like belly, often 

 pendent from weakness. Flatulence (expulsion of wind) 

 follows exercise, coughing, dunging, &c, but subsides as 

 the animal relieves itself. In inveterate cases the anus 

 becomes weakened and is as often opened as shut. The 

 interior of the bowel is sometimes exposed, while the 

 anus itself protrudes and recedes with every breath. 



Skin : Harsh, dry, and perhaps hide-bound ; coat long, 

 rough, and open. 



Remedy. — Incurable, but relieved by careful dietary ; 



