Page 114 - September 2016

But, we do go out and give talks, seminars, and presentations. We always appreciate communicating with our clients. We want to offer them what they want. When we get their feedback about what they are most interested in and what drugs are being used currently by veterinarians, or what the animal owners can use, we appreciate knowing that information,” says Mays.
At some shows and competitions, many
of the animals are tested, or sometimes just
the winners, to make sure they haven’t been given something that was banned by the rules. “In racing here in Texas, typically the top
2 finishers are tested in each race. With the livestock shows, some will typically test the Grand Champion, the Reserve Champion, and maybe one or two random samples - and this is often similar for the equine shows,” he says. If these animals are supposed to be showing or competing without drugs, it would disqualify the winner if that animal came up positive.
“The clients we work with appreciate the ability we have for turning the results around so quickly. That way, fines can be assessed and moneys have not yet been distributed to the winners.” This helps keep people honest. Most people are honest, but the testing may deter the ones who might try to cheat a little. Drug testing keeps some people from trying to have an unfair advantage.
“There are a number of drug testing labs
in veterinary medicine throughout the U.S. I am not sure if they have comparable tests that would be like these two particular ones we offer to our equine clients. These two seem to be very popular with the clients we have. I am excited about the new tranquilizer test,” he says.
“Some tranquilizers like acepomazine and guanabenz are drugs that weren’t screened
for previously in pre-purchase exams. If we start to see some of those, then it will help solve some problems.” When horses are going through a sale, some people may use a little “ace” or something similar to take the edge off their nervousness in that unfamiliar situation and noisy sale atmosphere. This might have the effect of making that horse appear more mellow and calm than it would be normally. A
Technology is constantly changing, with testing becoming more sensitive and having the ability to test down to parts per trillion.
buyer might be misled, thinking the horse has a quiet disposition. If drug testing could show that the horse had been tranquilized, it might negate a sale in some instances. It’s bad for the horse industry to have misrepresentation of the horses being sold.
The buyer might want a horse tested, especially if there was suspicion that it might have been tranquilized. Then, the question
is how long a drug might still be detectable. “This would depend on the drug more than on the individual animal because some of these drugs have longer-lasting effects. Some of the drugs we screen for would be considered long- acting, but there are others that aren’t nearly as long. Without knowing the dose that was given to the horse, it’s not possible to determine how long it might remain in the body. In general, however, if I were to advise clients on the optimum time to collect a sample, it would be at any point between 2 and 48 hours after the drug was administered,” says Mays.
If a person buys a horse at a sale, takes
the horse home, and becomes suspicious that it was influenced during the sale by a drug, there might still be a chance to test the horse and find that drug - depending on what it was. “We’ve had situations like that, when a veterinarian calls us saying that one of his/
her clients bought a horse and it wasn’t doing right. I tell clients that we are certainly willing to do the testing, but without knowing the dose given, we can’t guarantee we can find it. Just because we don’t find it doesn’t mean that a drug hadn’t been given, but we would say that it wasn’t detected in the animal’s system however many days afterward when they collected the sample.”
Most people wouldn’t think to take a sample for testing unless they had some reason to think the horse was not the same as it was on the day of purchase. “With individual sales, what I’ve noticed coming through our lab in the past few months is that people
are becoming more interested in this added assurance. They go ahead and do the test after the sale to make sure nothing is on board.” This could save a problem on down the road if you knew right away that the horse had been given a drug.
Taking a sample for testing at the time of
a sale or pre-purchase exam would be ideal. “This is being done more often, especially with many of our local practitioners. They
are making this more of a routine, to collect blood when they conduct the exam. If you think there is a chance you might want drug testing at some point, it’s always better to go ahead and collect the blood at the time of the examination. I suggest that the sample be spun down and centrifuged to get the serum off
the clot, and put the serum in a different tube to better preserve it, and then store it frozen.
Then, if testing is desired on down the road, a person can send us that frozen sample and we can try to determine what was in the animal’s system at the time of the examination,” says Mays. It’s better to be prepared, and not need it, than to wish you had it later.
Common Questions About The Tests
Cost for a drug test varies. “For the equine pre-purchase drug screen, we charge $120. The long-acting tranquilizer drug screen by itself
is $60. We also offer an NSAID screen, which only looks for the NSAIDs that are included in the pre-purchase drug screen but doesn’t look
for the tranquilizers. That NSAID test is $60. There is also a $6 accession fee (processing fee) that applies to each test. So, a person could select one or the other group, or both. Looking at both would be the pre-purchase drug screen. We have other tests, as well. Our website is a helpful tool if people want more information. The website
is tvmdl.tamu.edu and it has a search box where you can type in ‘drug screen’ and it will pull up all of the tests we offer,” he says.
“Some equine folks are interested in tests for corticosteroids like dexamethasone, so we have a corticosteroid screen, and an anabolic steroid screen. We have a variety of different drug screens that are applicable to our equine industry. There is information on the website about each test, listing the drugs that are included in that screen. It will tell you the sample we need, how much, the turnaround time, and cost,” says Mays.
“Our lab is accredited by three different accrediting organizations - two are related
to the racing industry and one is related to veterinary diagnostic labs. I want clients to know that when they send a sample to us, they will get the highest quality of testing they possibly can.”
Mays is a horseman himself, having grown up riding on his family’s ranch and working at his father’s mixed-animal veterinary practice hospital. He also spent some time in the equine show world and in equine reproduction prior to working at the diagnostic lab. He worked at a Quarter Horse breeding farm in Texas for 1 1/2-years.
Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory chemist Al Kind tests a sample.
112 SPEEDHORSE, September 2016
equine health