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KN thread circa Aug 16, 2001 One that appears to have been missed: Look out for "stuck" ears. Like little radar dishes, ears ought to be pivoting around checking out the surroundings pretty much constantly, especially in the fairly alien environment of an auction ring. Abnormally "quiet" ears should raise a big red flag about drugs. OK Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net If a gelding/colt drops their willie (penis) and doesn't suck it back up when they're walked that is a good indication of drugs on board. "Katy White" katy.white@viromed.com Capillary refill time ... Press on a horses gum with your finger, it will leave a white spot, this spot should turn pink again almost immediately. If not, drugs could be suspect. OK "Lou" sailounot@home.com Re Capillary refill - So could mild dehydartion, which wouldn't be at all an unusual finding in an auction setting. CMNewell, DVM Lift up his tail, if he's a young horse and he lifts it up with no resistance, he may be drugged. Another note, take someone who goes to THAT particular auction a lot, they will know who is a 'crony', and who actually sells decent horses. If you keep your eyes peeled, you can usually find some nice horses at the auctions. I know several tranquilizers that have effects which last weeks. CMNewell, DVM reshan@deyr.ultranet.com Any drugging that's going to affect the demeanor of a bad cat is going to be fairly obvious, but nerve blocks can be deceptive as hell. An alcohol block can last for weeks, so you want to make damn sure you don't buy anything that's been injected with Everclear. A retractable ballpoint pen is the weapon of choice. Before the sale, have the help get whatever horse(s) you're looking at out of the stall or pen so you can carefully examine the beast's legs from the knee down. During your exam, poke the bulb of each heel with your retracted ballpoint. No reaction? Repeat a bit harder. Still no reaction? The horse has been blocked or nerved. When you don't get a reaction, you might wonder aloud - very aloud - about what kind of dishonest (jerk) would try to run a blocked horse through a sale ring. I've seen fistfights over a (heck) of a lot less at sale barns. Tom Stovall CJF Farrier & Blacksmith stovall@wt.net http://www.katyforge.com abnormal sweating, unusual sweat patterns etc i.e. no flank, or between the legs sweat, but neck and shoulders very obviously sweating, and possibly leaving weird looking sweat marks on the hair coat. OK "Pinkhouses1961" @aol.com Something else to watch out for: bleeding. Not bleeding as the result of being drugged, but bleeding as in taking a pint or two of blood out the day of (or before) the auction to make the horse look like he's dead quiet. I have a friend who bought a horse (not at auction) that had had this done. He was a perfect angel on the test rides and for about a week after she took him home. Then he became the horse from hell--downright dangerous--once his red blood cell count was back where it was supposed to be. A vet check found the scabbed over nick on his carotid from the bleed. |
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