CBA Endorses AAEP Protocol for Video Endoscopic Exams

The Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association announced July 3 its endorsement of the American Association of Equine Practitioners' "Protocol for Pre-Sale Video Endoscopic Examination of the Upper Airway at Public Auction" as a means to encourage buyers and sellers to create a more uniform practice for the implementation of video endoscopy at Thoroughbred sales. 

"In this day and age, any time we can take one step back and consider both animal welfare and the public perception of animal welfare, that is something we need to do," said CBA president Gray Lyster. "Every year it's a bigger percentage of people who use videos, and there has been more talk about it with the CBA board for the past 12 months than there has ever been. We want to offer this as a tool and really encourage it." 

In Wednesday's release from the CBA, the association said the decision to support the protocol was one it felt would help make the process more accessible as well as acceptable to buyers going forward. 

"It does help standardize and fine-tune the practice so everyone is on the same page," said Lyster, who believes the increased use of video will largely appeal to those buyers making snap decisions in the back ring without the benefit of a traditional scope. 

"Every consignor is different, but most people cut off popular horses after 8, 9, 10 scopes," Lyster said. "Previously, if there weren't videos, you'd get a list of vets that had scoped the horse. But if I were a buyer and I'm too late to the stall where a horse has been scoped too many times, I'd rather have a video over nothing. 

"It's of big benefit to me if I were trying to do a last-minute transaction, which you see all the time at sales with horses in the back ring or horses heading to the back ring. Buyers don't have time to send a vet to scope a horse, but maybe there is a video available for that vet to review. That certainly beats what we currently have, which is a subjective grade offered by a different vet. Again, if I'm a buyer, I would much prefer to see a video of a horse's throat over another vet's grade." ​​

Videos, which have been displayed in barn areas by consignors with increased frequency for several years, will continue to be shown going forward. 

"We're going to our membership and suggesting that people allow people to scope horses but also ask them to review the videos at the same time and learn about this process in 2019," Lyster said. "As consignors, we aren't trying to say that we want to shut out vets from scoping horses, but if there is a way, like in many other countries, to go out and provide videos so that it reduces significantly the number of scopes on the grounds, then that is a win in our opinion. The technology is here, and we just need to try to embrace it."