54 Roaring in Horses. 



to six years of age, when the processes of development are 

 accompanied by great alterations in form, when the forma- 

 tion of the neck in particular makes considerable progress, 

 and the fact that long necks indicate a special predisposi- 

 tion to this affection, show that a cause for its appearance 

 must be sought for in these processes. He thought that 

 Koaring, often increasing slowly at this period, substantiated 

 this view. Fiirstenberg and others in Germany have also 

 considered the long thin neck as a predisposing conformation. 

 But my observation leads me to the conclusion that horses 

 with all kinds of necks may become Roarers, and that the 

 neck in question no more predisposes than a short thick 

 neck. If the neck develops in length during youth, so will 

 the organs and tissues in relation or direct connection with 

 it — nerves, muscles, trachea, oesophagus, blood-vessels, etc. 

 The same processes of development take place in horses in 

 countries where Roaring is scarcely known ; and if long 

 thin necks predisposed to it, we could scarcely expect 

 camels, giraffes, and creatures of similar conformation to 

 be at all exempt from this affection. 



Horses with flat sides, narrow chests, and elbows inclined 

 inwards, have also been supposed to possess a strong 

 tendency to Roaring, but I cannot find any reliable evidence 

 to support the supposition. I have seen as many well- 

 shaped, among them perfect-shaped, horses suffering from 

 this defect in respiration, as I have of those with the faulty 

 conformation just described. 



A notion of the same kind has largely prevailed in France 

 with regard to the shape of the head, horses with the fore- 

 head and face convex {tSte bitsqu^e) being regarded by 

 veterinary surgeons and horsemen as much predisposed to 

 Roaring. The idea, in all probability, was due to the fact 

 that the old breed of Norman horses, which was notorious 

 for this respiratory defect, had this unsightly-shaped head ; 

 but though the conformation has, by crossing the race, 

 almost disappeared, the Roaring has not. Besides, the 



