# Roaring and Tie Back Surgery



## kittchii (Mar 6, 2011)

Hello,

I am planning on looking at a possible new *lease* horse. I have been told that he was a roarer in the past and he has had the tie back surgery done, and that they havent heard any noise since while riding him. Though he will cough from time to time. He is an 8 year old Swedish Warmblood, if that helps. I am looking at him for a possible hunter/equitation horse and do not show that often. What would be your opinions of a horse that was a roarer? I do think that one of the horses that comes to show in the Grand Prix in my city has had the tie back surgery done, though i am not entirely sure. Any other kind of information on this would be helpful to.


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## Oxer (Jul 9, 2010)

i am going to hijack this thread... i am looking for information about this in particular. Can anyone out there explain what "Roaring" is and what "Tie back surgery" actually entails? I have Googled it... but all i ever get is tie back surgery for dogs!


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## munschk (Mar 11, 2008)

Roarers, also known as Recurrent Laryngeal Neuropathy or Laryngeal Hemiplegia, results from damage or neuropathy to one of the recurrent laryngeal nerves (usually the left hand side). As a result of the nerve damage, the muscle (the dorsal cricoarytenoid muscle) that moves the arytenoid cartilage (see the pics) ‘in’ and ‘out’ is affected and begins to atrophy. This hinders the ability of the arytenoid cartilage to move.

To answer your question about whether the horse will be fine for what you want to do with him (am I right in assuming this was your question?), firstly there are 3 different grades of roarers (grade 2 – 4, with grade 1 being a normal horse).

Usually, with non-racehorses, the only complaint is the sound which is caused by air turbulence as it passes over the affected vocal cord and the tie back procedure would have corrected this (it is used to increase the airway space and exercise capacity). It is usually only in racing horses which exercise to maximum capacity that exercise intolerance is noted. I highly doubt that him being a roarer will affect what you wish to do with him, especially as he has had the tie-back procedure already. The cough may, or may not be related to him being a roarer. 

The tie-back procedure is also called a laryngoplasty and basically, all that they do is permanently tie the affected arytenoid cartilage back so that it is always in the ‘fully open’ position (see the pics)

I have attached two pictures which hopefully help explain it. If you need any more information, I shall try my best to help!


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