ROARING IN RACEHORSES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 360, 17 April 1889, Page 6

ROARING IN RACEHORSES.

For a long fcitr.e oast a controversy has been going on in England with regard to that ! great curse to which high-class horseflesh is ■ subject— roaring- and asonly to be expected there is a wido difference of opinion both with regard to the origin ot the disease and its cure. It has over and over again been given out, and never contradicted, that there have been but few thoroughbred stallions brought into the colonies that were not roarers in some degree or other, and if any iinpoi tance is to bo attached to the common remark that " there is hardly a strain in the stud-book in which the taint cannot be traced," there must at least be a flavour of truth hanging to it. But though roarers are so unfashionable they are themselves racehorses in every sense of the term, and in many cases transmit much of their own excellence to their&tock. An auctioneer when wishingtoadd further to thegood qualities of some " lot" under offer will often tell his audience that he is "as thoroughbred as Eclipse." Yet, it is handed down by the best authorities that e\ en that celebrity was undoubtedly musical, if indeed he wasn't a full roarer. Blair Atholund Prince Charlie weie alike affected, but both were among the best performers of their time, and got sons and daughters which added to the family prestige. St. Simon and Ormonde the two greatest horses perhaps connected with the modern turf, also roared, yet no one can say how good either wan. and their doings ought to have discounted in a great measure the prejudice against horses which are known to be afllicted with the disease in a bad torm. It has been generally conceded among men of veterinary science and practice that tho bigger the horse the more liable is he to make a noise, and one authority says in support of this contention, "that such a thing as roaring in ponies is as scarce as a dead donkey in Covent Garden Market." During the many years have been troubled in experimenting for a cure of the disease nothing has ever been hit upon as an equivalent for the trouble, and it has at length come to be admitted that the disease is just as incurable as cancer or consumption. S ill, it is agieed that by operating a skilled \eteiinary surgeon can at times remove the mechanical cause of the music, but as the defect arises from a disease in the " blood "—" — at any late that is what the most eminent authorities attribute it to — the caiise must remain and therefo r e the removal of the growth mentioned does not constitute a cure at all Climatic influences are allowed to have most to do with the decrease or development of tho worst cases, and when it como a to be remembered that our own horses are compaiatively free, while others winch have been known to be afflicted when in England have lost the disease when sent in warm climates, there will be found but few to doubt it. AMr Robertson who "runs" a larye breeding establishment in South Africa, is rather in favour of roarers? as sires, and in a letter written recently he says : " I would not mind breeding from the rankest roarer you could give me. I do not believe that roaring is transmitted fiom the parents in this part of the country, and do not know of a single instance of a roarer having been bied here. I believe Brian Boru, a horse imported in 1863, was a very bad roarer. After he was here some time he could run two-mile races and beat anything in tho country. I saw a good many of his stock, but not one of them was affected in his wind. In our district Agar ' (imported) was as bad a roarer as you could get. He could not win a hat in England. Six months after he arrived he won a mile race at Cradock in a large field of horses, and got stock a« sound as possible, I am quite sure that roarers irupi*o\e in this country, and this is owing to the dry climate." Some authorities arguo that where the disease is caused by over forcing in rich food, by premacure exercise with youngsters who require more time than others, or by hereditary taint, and not brought On by juvenile ailments, &nch as strangles, there is no use attempting a cure ; but there are points on which even the most skilled cannot be certain. If Australians are to judge of a roarer by the noise he makes when at exercise, then we have one at Randwick in the New Zealand bred Too Soon. He is quite as musical as " they make 'em," but not nearly so bad as he wan some months ago. In his case it is paid to have arisen from a bad cold, caught on the passage to Australia. This, however, is merely conjecture. The disease may be inherent, and only began to show itself after leaving the cold climate of New Zealand. Be the cause what it may, he did roar unmistakably, and whether his improvement is due to the process of galvanism his throat underwent at the hands of Mr F. W. Day, or to the warmer climate, there remains the fact of his being a much improved animal, though all traces of the malady have not disappeared.—" Sydney Telegraph."