388 DISEASES OF BREATHING. 



might be tried; although, if I lemember rightly, it was used on 

 Ormonde, without success. 



I have never seen any good results *trom the practice of giving 

 racehorses which are roarers, just before starting for a race, butter 

 or oil, as some persons recommend, with the object of lessening 

 their infirmity of breathing. Such animals will often make much 

 less noise when " fit," than when " out of condition." 



To modify the admission of air into the lungs, the use of a strap 

 to pass over the false nostrils of a roarer has been suggested. This 

 strap is fixed to each side of the bit, and is kept in position by a 

 strap at each side attached to the head-stall of the bridle. To the 

 inner surface of this strap, immediately over the false nostril at 

 each side, was fixed a body resembling in shape the half of a hen's 

 egg cut longitudinally. When applied, these bodies pressed upon 

 the triangular space formed by the apex of the nasal bones and 

 upper jaw, thus closing the false nostrils, and partly diminishing 

 the channel of the true ones. The employment of this strap has 

 been ruled to be cruelty to animals. As the cessation of the 

 objectionable noise is thus obtained only by decrease in the 

 amount of inhaled air, the action of the strap in no way relieves 

 the difficulty of breathing, which is caused by the calibre of the 

 larynx being abnormally small. Also if a roarer is making a 

 " noise " after severe exertion, the " music " can be instantly 

 siJbpped by applying the fingers to one or both nostrils, so as to 

 partly diminish the supply of air taken into the lungs. 



Any benefit which might be obtained by exporting a roarer 

 from a cold, damp climate, into a hot, dry one, would be possible 

 only during the early stages of the complaint ; that is, before the 

 afiected muscle or muscles had become converted more or less into 

 fibrous tissue. The chances of recovery by change of climate are 

 far too few to warrant the adoption of such a remedy. 



Tracheotomy is a useful means of relief from roaring, especially 

 with racehorses. 



Up to the present, the attempted relief of roaring by surgical 

 means has been a failure. Remember that the mere removal of 

 the noise or of the obstruction can have no curative effect on the 

 nervous disease which gives rise to it, and, also, frequently affects 

 the lungs and general health in an injurious manner. 



LEGAL ASPECT OF ROARING AND GRUNTING.—" In prac- 

 tice, roaring is always very properly considered an unsoundness" 

 (Oliphant's " Law of Horses "). It may be assumed without the 

 slightest fear of contradiction, that the disease or alteration of 

 structure, of which the noise is a sign, injuriously affects the 



