It’s a Sunday afternoon, and you’ve made the decision to go down to your local car dealership to purchase a new vehicle. Companies have a responsibility to ensure that their consumers are getting what they expect. In the dynamic and ever-changing market of equine buying and selling, veterinarians play a crucial role in this screening process similar to purchasing a car – better known as “pre-purchase examinations.”
Before a horse is bought, vets carry out these pre-purchase examinations, just like our friend at the Holden dealership. The horses’ mobility, physique, reproductive capabilities and overall health status is examined.
So, what does a horse pre-purchase examination actually involve? For the head, it’s a gag to check the teeth to make the horse has been flossing and brushing each night. For the eyes it’s an ophthalmoscope to make sure their carrot consumption is sufficient, to ensure blindness isn’t an issue.
Moving down the trunk to the heart, it’s a stethoscope that’s un-holstered next. If the horse’s heartbeat is particularly high or irregular, they may have just come from a heavy track-work session, or alternatively, might suffer from arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation. Next hoof-testers are used to assess the horses’ feet. Trotting the horse out in front of the vet, in a straight line and on the lunge is the next step of assessment. Assuming the horse passes all of these examinations with no glaring problems, then the recommendation will be made to the buyer that the horse is fit for purchase.
But, where is the line? There are various other modalities at the vets’ disposal, should they feel it necessary to call upon the higher order tools of the trade. X-Rays are common-practice in human medicine, however, the radioactivity of repeated x-rays on the horse must always be considered. A urine and blood sample can be used in assessment too. Rectal examinations are also involved for inspection the mares’ ovaries and other reproductive organs.
A group of researchers at The University of Saskatchewan have teamed up with veterinary researcher Dr. Julia Montgomery to publish their findings on “Capsule endoscopy”. The endoscopy works in the form of a “pill” with a camera attached, to monitor what is going on in the gut and intestines of the horse. It can spend up to eight hours in the gut. What used to be guess work and gut-feel, can now be palatable and quantitative in nature.
Of course the horse industry has seen new technologies come and go before, and ultimately there is no substitute for experience and a bit of luck on the day.
