![]() ![]() ![]() “It’s not really a progressive disease, and the horse can make it stop for a while by certain movements like swallowing,” Parente says. Unlike roaring, DDSP sounds can be intermittent. Sometimes people refer to this condition as “swallowing the tongue” or “choking up,” though neither is accurate. “A fluttering, gurgling noise on expiration (exhaling) is usually consistent with DDSP,” Parente says. But with DDSP the soft palate moves slightly above the epiglottis, blocking airflow as the horse breathes out. A healthy soft palate lies slightly underneath the epiglottis, permitting the air to flow freely between the nasopharynx and the larynx and vice versa. Dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP)Īlthough the soft palate extends all the way back to the epiglottis, it’s not connected to it. Laryngeal hemiplegia won’t improve on its own and worsens gradually over time, Parente and Couëtil say.Ģ. The noise can vary from horse to horse, sounding like anything from a whistle to a full lion’s roar. “Essentially, it’s a restrictive noise heard on inspiration (inhaling) with every breath, and it gets increasingly louder as the horse exercises harder and also as the disease progresses,” Parente says. It results in a narrowing of the passage through the larynx and causes rattling of the weak laryngeal tissues, creating the “roaring” noise. Over time, the weakness can turn into full paralysis, preventing that side of the larynx from opening as air flows through. Laryngeal hemiplegia, resulting from laryngeal neuropathy (“roaring”)Īs with our head-turner at the beginning of the article, one side of the horse’s larynx, usually the left side, becomes weak due to nerve damage, which can occur spontaneously or as a result of an injury. However, three stand out as being the most common: 1. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a combination of conditions at play. That carbon dioxide then follows the same airway path in reverse-up the trachea to the larynx, over the epiglottis, across the soft palate into the nasopharynx, and through the large nasal cavities, where it gets exhaled through wide nostrils.Īt least a dozen upper airway pathologies can cause respiratory noise, says Parente. In this lower part of the respiratory system, inhaled oxygen enters the horse’s circulation and gets replaced by carbon dioxide-the “waste gas” the bloodstream delivers to the alveoli and bronchi. After the air exits the larynx, it heads through the trachea, which is the nearly 3-foot-long flexible, cartilage-lined “pipe” that delivers gases down to the lungs’ bronchi (airways) and alveoli (air sacs at the airways’ end). Once the air passes the epiglottis, it goes through the tunnel of the larynx-known as the voice box because it contains the vocal cords. So, essentially, the epiglottis acts as a sort of drawbridge, opening during breathing and closing during swallowing, he says, so food can reach the esophagus on its journey to the stomach. The esophagus lies above those airway structures. Lying at the back of the soft palate is the epiglottis, which covers the descending airway passages to block food from entering, Couëtil explains. That area of the throat is nonetheless a crossroads-primarily serving the gastrointestinal system. But in horses the soft palate extends so far back the throat is essentially closed off-forcing horses to breathe through their nostrils only, regardless of the intensity of physical exertion, Couëtil says. In humans the soft palate opens at the back of the throat, allowing air to pass from the mouth to the nose and vice versa. A soft tissue structure known as the soft palate separates the nasopharynx from a similar passage in the mouth (the oropharynx). The nasopharynx isn’t a tissue structure but, rather, a passageway formed by muscles and other structures. RELATED CONTENT: The Equine Respiratory System ![]()
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