82 
ROARING. 
malady, a cure might readily be found; but, alas! I fear the mis¬ 
chief ninety-nine times in a hundred will be found in less come- 
at-able parts. It is, however, consoling to find that a mode of 
treatment is pointed out by Mr. Carter with a possibility of suc¬ 
cess ; forasmuch as I have hitherto not witnessed any attempt to 
cure a roarer, and can only speak to one case in which nature pro¬ 
duced the cure—that of Mr. Thatchell’s celebrated Black Sultan 
horse, which he purchased for £30, as a roarer, and refused 300 
guineas for when as sound as when he was foaled*. I speak from 
personal knowledge of the character of this horse; and in corrobora¬ 
tion of the various causes of this disease and their eifects, produced 
by Mr. Carter in his Essay, I can honestly say, that, although I 
never had a roaring hunter myself, 1 can name four of extraor¬ 
dinary character in the field, one of them (the late Sir Charles 
Warde’s, Star) having had 600 guineas offered for, and refused. 
I possessed one whistler, who gave me an awful fall with the 
Craven hounds by being blown long before he ought to have been, 
and of course he was instantly drafted; and I possessed a hack 
that made very little noise at any rate of speed on hard road, but 
roared aloud when even trotting over tender ground, or against a 
hill. 
It is a curious fact, that when one of our greatest and most suc¬ 
cessful breeders of race horsest applied to Mr. Cline, the late cele¬ 
brated surgeon, for his opinion as to the cause and seat of roaring; 
and also whether—in reference to his breeding for the turf—the 
disease might be considered as hereditary in either horse or mare; 
the answer was, that “ it could not be propagated, being merely 
a membranous projection in a part of the windpipe called the 
larynx, and a consequence of that part having been inflamed from 
a cold, and injudiciously treated during its existence.” This theory 
of Mr. Cline’s has not been borne out in practice. Roaring has 
been proved to be a hereditary disease to a certain extent; and, 
perhaps, as strong a case as any in proof is that of Mr. Kellerman’s 
Mary, by Precipitate, afterwards the property of Mr. Wilson, 
who produced three roarers |by three different sires. Neither is 
Mr. Carter’s assertion, that “ it would be a rare thing to find a 
thoroughbred racing colt, or even a full-grown racer, a roarer,” 
borne out in experience, as each is a case of very common occur¬ 
rence—perhaps to the extent of one in all large racing establish¬ 
ments!. Neither is it my opinion that the bearing-rein, or any 
* Mr. Thatchell was a few years back at the head of the Somersetshire 
hounds, and one of the first horsemen of the present day. 
f Mr. Wilson, Father of the Turf. 
! Many race horses do not roar in their common gallops, and only when 
stretched out in a race. 
