BROKEN WIND, a disease or unsoundness of the respiratory organs of the horse, which, from the French pousse, was termed, by some of the old English writers on far riery, pursiness. The Germans term it deimpfigk,eit, or asthma, though in many of their works it receives also the name of herzsehld gigkeit, from a belief that it consists in palpi tation of the heart. The nature of the malady is not well understood, though it appears in the form of difficulty in the act of expiration, the horse making an extraordinary or spasmodic effort to expel from the lungs the air which has readily entered them in inspiration.
broken-winded horse is usually an animal that does not thrive, is lean, and has a dependent belly, the muscles of which are unusally active as expiratory mus cles. The characteristic symptoms are best observed when the horse is exercised, the breathing becoming very labored, the nostrils dilated, the eyes bloodshot, and even blue, showing imperfect purification of blood in the lungs. On watching the chest and flank. the ribs are observed very actively moved, and after collapsing, when the air is expelled from the lungs, are further depressed by a spasmodic jerk brought about by the abdominal muscles. A broken-winded horse has a bad cough, of the kind referred to by veterinarians as characteristic of unsoundness, and termed a hollow cough. When the animal is oppressed by fast work, or dragging a load up a hill, the pulse is excessively rapid, and the heart beats energetically. From this circumstance, it is regarded by some as a disease of the heart. Others have believed the diaphragm affected, but in reality it is the lungs, or the apparatus for expelling the air from these organs, that is at fault. The diaphragm being a muscle of inspiration, it is probably in no way implicated. No doubt, when the heart is diseased, the function of breathing is sometimes much affected, but these are not the symptoms of the true broken-wind, any more than when the pings are in part rendered impervious to air, and the act of inspiration is rendered short. This
condition constitutes thick, wind, and is often one of the remote results of inflammatory disease of the lungs.
horses are liable to B. W., especially if improperly fed on innii tritious and bulky food, and at the same time kept at hard and fast work. Whatever may be the way in which the condition of the alimentary canal operates in producing B. W., of this we are certain, that the function of digestion is much impaired. Indeed, the term B. W. is believed to have had reference originally to the constant escape of flatus. 13. W. is far more rare now-a-days than of old. and it is at present most com mon in those countries where horses are worst managed, and fed almost exclusively on coarse, indigestible, or innutritious kinds of hay and beans.
treatment of B. W. is very unsatisfactory; and we can only hope for palliation of the symptoms by keeping the alimentary canal in proper order, adminis tering occasional purgatives, and feeding on a proper quantity of the best oats, which should always be bruised; also allowing the horse the best hay in spare quantities—viz., from 10 to 12 lbs. daily. Some veterinarians have vaunted their powers of curing. this disease, and reconuneuded large doses of camphor, digitalis, and opium; but these potent narcotics only operate for a very short time, and as their effects pass off, the symptoms return, and often with increased severity. We may say that B. W. is incura ble; and horses very frequently drop down exhausted when at Bard work, and die either from congestion of the lungs, hemorrhage, or simple suffocation.
B. W. is so bad a form of unsoundness that horse-dealers sometimes attempt, and even successfully, to hide the defect for the time they may be engaged in the sale of a horse, and this they do by causing the animal to swallow shot or grease. A certain por tion of lead weighing in the stomach bas a wonderful effect in diminishing the symp toms, which become again obvious enough for a few hours after the ruse leas been practiced on some unwary purchaser.