Blood Profiles

Blood analysis is a useful tool in the diagnosis of clinical disease but should never be considered as providing a definitive opinion except where specific findings amount to irrefutable proof. For example, a positive finding of cancerous cells has to be seen as significant, but most results are not as black-and-white as that.

Where a horse is not performing well, one of the first causes to eliminate is infection and blood tests are effective in detecting signs of significant bacterial infection, though less so when it comes to viruses. The most important element in diagnosing infection rests with the white blood cells and interpretation of these will be made by your vet in conjunction with a laboratory.

If there is no infection, conditions like anaemia, dehydration and nutritional deficiency may be important and it has to be appreciated that, for top-class performance, blood readings have to be far closer to perfection than is the case with sedentary animals. In other words, a relatively low red blood cell or haemoglobin figure may mean nothing in a horse at grass, but failure to race, say, could easily occur where enough oxygen wasn't getting to the tissues for the same reason.

It is known that mineral deficiencies occur on particular soils, so that a copper deficiency, for example, might occur and cause serious problems for horses in full work. The blood picture may be considered to be within normal limits but if the horse still trembles after work and displays cardiac irregularities which are potentially dangerous, it is clearly important to supplement the horse's dietry intake. supplement will solve the problem, though it has to be precise as over-dosage can create more trouble.