Ever wonder what is going on inside your horse? Do you ever wonder if you are doing the right thing for your horse’s health? Even though we have incredible new tools to evaluate our wonderful equine friends, such as digital x-ray, video endoscopy, and ultrasound, there is a simple way to check their health that is quick, gives us a broader picture of what is going on, and is less invasive than these other modalities. Taking blood from your horse and submitting it to the lab allows us to see how some of the most important parts of the body are functioning.
Routine blood work is a great way to get a picture of your horse’s health from the inside. It also gives us a baseline for future use. Routine blood work over time can show us trends in health that we may not pick up on otherwise. This could help us to recommend changes to their lifestyle that could keep them healthier longer. We also find that blood work at the time of a health crisis gives a picture that would become much clearer with previous results from when the horse was healthy. Because of the great benefits that come from routine blood work, we recommend having routine blood work done annually.
Routine blood work gives us feedback about several areas that help us. It will give us information about the red blood cells in the body – the carriers of oxygen to the tissues. It gives us information about the immune system that tells us how the body is reacting to insults from the environment. It gives us a window into some of the major organs and how they are functioning. Blood work also lets us know about the electrolytes that are circulating. Maintaining the proper level of these is required for the proper function of all cells in the body. The results will also show us if there is any active inflammation present.
As you can see there is a lot of information that comes from an annual blood test that can make a huge difference in the health of your horse. Let us help you make sound, informed decisions about the care of your horse by having your horses blood evaluated each year.
