Video Endoscopy Use at Yearling Sales Gains Momentum

As the yearling sale season gets underway, there is momentum for a system that could decrease the number of times sale prospects undergo endoscopic exams.

Scoping provides veterinarians and their clients with the ability to assess a horse's upper airways—in particular the movement of the throat and grading of the larynx—in an effort to ascertain its potential for undergoing the rigors of racing.

For potential buyers, an endoscopic exam performed by a veterinarian provides a measure of confidence before plucking down their money or is used to decide to pass on a particular prospect.

There are a number of variables that can affect the images viewed during the exam, including whether it's conducted at a farm or sale grounds, time of day, how long the horse has been at the sale, and activity level leading up to the procedure.

The proliferation of scoping—with some of the most popular sale horses undergoing the procedure up to a dozen times before being led into the sale ring—has led many industry professionals to conclude that it has a detrimental effect on yearlings.

"The entire process of performing endoscopic exams on sale yearlings takes its toll on the animals, some of whom have been shown to prospective buyers more than a hundred times," said Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales, a longtime critic of widespread scoping at sales who, like many other sellers, caps the number of scopes taken of his sale horses. "Some horses do it seamlessly. But some horses fight, and the horses and people get hurt."

McDonald is among those advocating U.S. sale companies adopt the video endoscopy procedures in place at most auctions throughout the rest of the world. Utilizing state-of the-art technology, what the vet sees during the procedure is recorded, and the video is retained by the consignor and made available to veterinarians for viewing and analysis, effectively reducing the number of individual exams on each horse and providing uniformity to the procedure. Long term, the goal would be to have the video endoscopic exams available to veterinarians with the sale repository, much the same way radiographs are maintained for veterinary use.

Video endoscopic exams are now being employed by more North American yearling consignors, and its use is being encouraged by the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association. Last week, the CBA announced 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.

"We're just really trying to encourage it," said CBA president Gray Lyster, adding that his family's Ashview Farm will be using video endoscopy this year. "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. It is used successfully around the world. For us, it is just too redundant not to let a veterinarian capture that one time and everybody be able to look at it.

"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," Lyster added. "One of the hardest things in selling is to watch a horse get overscoped."

"I think we've made a lot of progress," McDonald said. "We have been videoing our horses for two years and have found that veterinarians are much more open to looking at the videoscope we have in the barn. I'm really encouraged that by 2020 we will have a system in place that is logical, functional, and efficient. I think it's been a long time coming. The current system is abusive and very inefficient for buyers. I can tell you, I don't want to buy a horse that's been scoped 20 times."

Lyster acknowledges some buyers will still want the endoscopic exams performed by their own vets, some of whom have proprietary methods they use when inspecting airways.

"I don't necessarily believe it will totally replace scoping," Lyster said. "Buyers and their veterinarians will still be scoping, but it is an absolute obvious opportunity to significantly reduce the number of on-sale grounds scopes. A lot of buyers are going to be satisfied with the videos once they have a comfort level."

"I just think it's a win-win for everybody," McDonald said. "It won't be perfect. Everybody will be doing a video in the same manner as everybody else. I just think it will be a far more efficient way for owners to get a real read on the true state of the horse's airway."

Lyster said the two leading North American yearling sale companies—Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland—are on board with trying to assist with the effort, as are some of the leading veterinarians.

Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said any protocol established for conducting video endoscopic exams would require a unified effort.

"The vast majority of participants within the industry want to do right by the horse, and there would be very strong support for developing a standardized procedure for videoscoping examinations to be available in a repository," Browning said. "I think the devil is in the details. A lot of folks are working together to work out the guidelines. It is not going to happen overnight. It is an evolution. There will be a learning curve. As long as the goal is the same, which is to do what is best for the horse and to provide good information for buyers and sellers, I am optimistic."

Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock said there are too many variables involved with the scoping process to try to standardize it. For video endoscopy to gain acceptance, there would have to be a consistent method employed for each horse.

"We've had horses who scoped well, and then two days later you scope them again by another vet and they fail the scope," Foley said, adding that is why Oracle's sale team not only inspects its prospective purchases many times but also requests more than one scope. "Their throats can change overnight.

"I don't think I would bid on a horse unless the veterinarian I have a relationship with scoped it," Foley said. "Horses are going to be scoped once or twice a week for the rest of their life."