50 . ■ Roaring in Horses. 



5. Size. 



Size is supposed to have some influence in the genesis of 

 Roaring, and it appears to be a fact that ponies and small 

 horses are less frequently affected in this way. Not only in 

 England is this recognised ; Continental horsemen have 

 accepted it as undeniable. The Baron Curnieu, for instance, 

 a great authority in France on horses and horsemanship, 

 says, in speaking of Roaring : " Le Cornage est une maladie 

 du grand cheval;" and again, " Comme le Cornage est la 

 maladie du grand et gros cheval, il est probable que Ton 

 continuera de risquer i'emploi des etalons corneurs, d'autant 

 plus quails ne manquent pas."^ 



Of the horses in Holstein, Riquet estimated in 1847 that 

 eight per cent, of the carriage-horses were Roarers, and of 

 the smaller-sized horses only four per cent.- 



For England, Mr. Hopkin writes : " In breeding, as we 

 improve the size and conformation, we also increase the 

 tendency to unsoundness of wind. Taking 15-2 hands 

 as a medium height of the horse, we rarely find one 

 under that affected with Laryngismus paralyticus, whilst 

 (with age) when over that height a heavy percentage are 

 unsound. This has been established by investigations 

 undertaken for me. 



" Little horses are very rarely affected, and in offspring 

 from the same parents, if one be small and the other big, 

 the Roaring will be developed in the latter and not the 

 former ; but I believe if the small one be bred from and 

 should breed a big one, even if the mate be sound, the ten- 

 dency to Roaring will return. I have a striking instance in 

 a bay mare, 15-1-^ hands high, and which I have hunted for 

 the last eight or nine seasons ; her half brother and sister, 

 16 hands high, were both Roarers, whilst their dam was 

 sound ; and Spoonstealer, the sire of all, was also a good- 

 winded horse. "^ 



^ "Lemons de Science Hippique Generale." 



- '• Recueil de Med. Yeterinaire," 1847. 



^ Op. cit., p. 315. 



