INFERIOR FACE OF THE BODY. 151 



This condition must not be confounded with that retraction of the 

 abdomen which is temporarily the result of training in the horse, or 

 of an exclusive diet of oats for those required to perform laborious 

 services. 



If, on the contrary, the inferior line of the abdomen is very convex, 

 descending abruptly backward from the sternum, it is spoken of as 

 dropping, pendulous, or cow's belly. This is a conformation indicating, 

 as we have seen, a horse with a ravenous appetite, sluggish, without 

 activity, and predisposed to be sway-backed and short-winded. In 

 breeding districts where the forage is nutritious and fattening, as in the 

 Valley of Auge and in the Cotentin, it is not necessary to hesitate over 

 a voluminous abdomen when the conformation of the chest is good, and 

 particularly in the case of mares which are pregnant, and that of foals 

 and colts. Diet and exercise will soon .cause its disappearance. The 

 skill of the buyer consists in selecting under adverse circumstances, 

 often with little to enlighten him, the animal which, in spite of a heavy 

 abdomen, will with proper care assume a light, graceful, and stylish 

 appearance. 1 



Diseases and Blemishes. The diseases and blemishes of the abdomen 

 it is important to recognize. They are : 



1. CEdema, or a serous infiltration of the connective tissue, an enlargement 

 of variable area, which is soft (but not hot or fluctuating) and yields (pits) to 

 the pressure of the finger. It results often from prolonged rest in the stable, 

 and sometimes also follows traumatisms, castration, or the application of irri- 

 tating substances used with a therapeutic object. 



2. Exomphalus, or umbilical hernia, very common in colts, which con- 

 sists of a subcutaneous swelling from a protrusion of a portion of the intestines 

 through the umbilical opening, whose obliteration after birth has not taken place. 

 This affection is very rare in adults, because it is treated at an early period, and 

 because it reduces itself spontaneously as the vertical diameter of the abdominal 

 cavity increases. 



3. Ventral hernia, which only differs from the preceding in that the rup- 

 ture of the parietes through which the abdominal organ passes is accidental, and 

 may be situated upon any part of the abdomen, instead of being natural and 

 occupying always the position of the umbilical opening. It is due to rupture 

 of the muscular and fibrous parietes of the abdomen. When the solution of 

 continuity extends to the skin and the intestines protrude, it is called an eventration. 

 The two terms do not carry the same importance. Although they are only different 

 degrees of the same accident, yet, in relation to their gravity, they are not com- 

 parable. 



4. Traces of setons, which certain practitioners prefer inserting in this 

 region rather than in the axilla or inter-axilla, so as not to interfere with the 

 application of the girth and the belly-band. They have no importance. 



1 A. Rivet, Guide pratique de 1'acheteur de chevaux, p. 71. 



