THOUGHTS ON BROKEN WIND. 
123 
air, and medicine, are to the broken-winded horse, exercise is no 
less so. Without regular constant exercise, all means for ameli¬ 
orating the condition of the unfortunate animal will be of no 
avail. The broken-winded horse should not remain idle a 
single day. Our medical means will not avail us much in the 
class of expectorants or diaphoretics, and therefore we must fall 
back on exercise; and who that has experienced the relief the 
oppressed mucous membranes have sustained by the bursting 
out of perspiration under immoderate exertion in immediate 
relief to the oppressed breathing can doubt its efficacy in this 
case ] I hardly need name the sense of buoyancy and freedom 
experienced after a short amount of training. We know the 
effect of remaining in the stable during frost to hunters, espe¬ 
cially to roarers or thick-winded horses: how they go back in 
their wind and capabilities of endurance, and tell their own 
tales directly. By enforcing the necessity of exercise to the 
broken-winded horse, I would not have it inferred that his 
powers of endurance should be over-taxed; but, short of that, 
he should be in the open air, at some kind of work, as much as 
possible, and if he can only be made to sweat occasionally, so 
much the better. This state of things can only be brought 
about gradually ; but it is really astonishing how much work the 
diseased animal can be rendered capable of performing by a 
rigid system of training. I have often seen horses go to field- 
days, which at first seemed scarcely able to carry their riders, 
though after a steady continuance at work, and never being 
allowed to remain idle, they have become very serviceable, their 
symptoms of broken-wind having experienced great relief. 
Again, in coaching-stables, if a horse in a slow team is found to 
be “ going in his wind,” it is not unusual to put him to a faster 
coach, doing shorter stages, with decided benefit. And besides, 
if we think of it, broken-wind is not a disease nearly so inci¬ 
dental to fast-worked horses as to the slow-moving and pampered 
animal. 
I must apologise for the length to which this contribution has 
run. When commenced, as my introductory letter will shew, 
I only intended making a few remarks. The subject, however, 
has proved inviting to me to write a great deal more than I had 
anticipated. I might have finished by a resume of the theories 
broached ; but it would take up too much space, and in the 
absence of more certain knowledge on this difficult subject, I 
think it prudent to come to no settled conclusions. 
