E4-Boarder& Trainer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 10, 2003
Regular Testing Ensures Health At The Sale Bam
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancas
ter Co.) In only a short time
on a typical Monday, Dr. Jim
Holt may press a stethoscope
to a horse’s side, stop to an
swer a horse owner’s question,
consult his clipboard to search
for a number, answer the
phone, and consult his clip
board again.
Finding a number not cross
ed off, he’ll begin again a
search for a horse in be
tween answering more ques
tions or checking results at the
laboratory on the premises.
A veterinarian who works
at New Holland Sales Stables
every Monday, Holt is in
charge of administering the
Lab technician Carol Stevens runs two Coggins
tests in the laboratory. Here she prepares for the
agar test, which takes 24-48 hours to run.
Although most of his job is administering Coggins tests, Holt
may also evaluate horses for illnesses, such as this pony.
Coggins test to horses sold at
the auction.
Holt also checks horses to
decide whether they are legal
to sell. He checks body condi
tion and evaluates lameness,
wounds, blindness in both
eyes, and debilitating diseases.
“Essentially what we’re try
ing to do is interpret Pennsyl
vania’s animal cruelty law,”
said Holt.
“Things have improved
dramatically at the sale bam
in the last several years,” he
said. “We don’t see the prob
lematic horses as frequently.”
Also the relationship be
tween the SPCA and the sale
barn has improved, according
to Holt.
In the spring, 200-300 horses may be auctioned off every Monday. Holt and
Jiis assistants administer the Coggins test to 40-100 of those horses. This re
quires drawing blood, as Holt demonstrates here.
“Although people may be
lieve that this is a slaughter
only sale, on average 10 per
cent or less of the horses go to
slaughter,” he said.
Testing For EIA
Mandatory for horses com
ing to the auction from out
side of Pennsylvania, the test
is for equine infectious anemia
(EIA), a viral disease. Penn
sylvania does not require Cog
gins testing qn in-state horse
transactions.
Owners of horses coming in
from outside of Pennsylvania
are responsible, if their horse
has not already been tested, to
have the horse Coggins tested
at the sales stable.
Owners of a newly-pur
chased horse may also opt to
pay the $2O to have their
horse tested, since the test is
required, for example, to par
ticipate in shows. They can
find out results in two hours.
The ELISA test is run in batches.
Stevens can test from one sample to
“as many as I can keep track of,’* she
said.
Although EIA “is not com
mon compared to the number
of tests that we run,” accord
ing to Holt, “there is no vac
cine and there is no treat
ment,” so the test is
important.
However, “we’ve only had
two positives since we started
the lab three years ago,” he
said.
Biting insects usually
flies spread the disease, in
addition to a needle used on
an infected horse and then
used on an uninfected animal.
Holt arrives at the sale bam
a half hour before the sale
starts to go through the list of
horses consigned “to decide
who needs tested and who
doesn’t,” he said.
Arriving early also allows
him to “go through while the
horses are somewhat statio
nary,” although with horses
continually being checked in
or taken through the ring,
finding the horses on his list is
a challenge.
In the spring, 200-300
horses may be auctioned off
every Monday. Holt and his
assistants may test 40-100 of
those horses.
Technician Amber Wiedler
also helps to find the horses
and draw blood. Paperwork
for each horse includes re
cording the horse’s number,
breed, age, sex, and markings.
In The Lab
Lab technician Carol Ste
vens runs two different Cog
gins tests in the laboratory lo
cated on sales stable grounds.
The ELISA test results are
ready in only hours, while the
agar test takes 24-48 hours to
run.
Stevens runs the Enzyme
Linked Immunosorbent Assay
(ELISA) test on most of the
samples. However horses
going to New Jersey, which
does not accept ELISA test re
sults, are given the agar test.
According to Stevens, “the
ELISA test takes a very small
amount of serum,” which is
separated from the blood sam
ples by a centrifuge. This al
lows Stevens to test the serum
which rises to the top.
Although approximately 70
percent of his job is adminis
tering the Coggins test, Holt
may also examine horses as
they are checked in to the sale
bam for possible problems.
He also may evaluate horses
that have already been sold,
since a horse may be resold “if
the owner finds something
they can’t live with,” he said.
Holt is part of Brandywine
Veterinary Services, a four
veterinarian practice based in
Coatesville. He also works
with the dairy cattle at New
Holland Sales Stables on
Tuesdays and Wednesdays.