I saw that. What I do not understand is the tests going to Iowa for results when Bowie is in Texas. Some vets here in Alabama regularly do in house Coggins tests and you can get a one day Coggins. Is the Iowa lab a special USDA lab or is this just a bunch of BS? I can see how that many horses with sketchy pasts going through Bowie could likely contribute to EIA spread but I am not sure how to take this. I thought Coggins tests were required for interstate travel except for horses bound for slaughter. But these positives may have come from Texas horses or Texas horses sourced from Mexico with very little documentation. Or a horse with a negative Coggins that had not been exposed long enough to test positive. Or a horse with phony documentation. Sounds like a mess and I am sure this is not the first instance of this problem at this facility.
It sounds like the tests going to Iowa are for confirmation of tests already done.
I assume it’s a USDA site that does a better test.
Since this is from Bowie I doubt its BS
See letter C in the screenshot, not every state has a lab that can do it, I guess?
Iowa may be the closest approved lab.
This is many years ago but I have this experience - a friend bought a horse that was not Coggin’s (EIA) tested. Back then, this was not commonly performed. We had to get a Coggins on all the horses going to the Pony Club rally and this horse tested positive. So it, and all of our other horses had to be retested and the positive horse quarantined. They did not send old tests anywhere. Vet redrew blood and sent new tests in. Suspect horse still positive and all others negative. Suspect horse retested again. Positive. Other horses fine. Suspect horse was sent into permanent quarantine until its death from other causes.
I still don’t get the Iowa connection. Why not Texas A&M? It seems the best way is to redraw blood and do a new test. TVMDL offers two methods of detecting EIA antibodies, an agar gel immunodiffusion, AGID, method or an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA. I am sure Bowie is having a problem but their explanation sounds hinky to me. I do not read anywhere in the literature where sending original tests for confirmation is an option.
OK I stand corrected. NVSL is located in Ames Iowa.
When I got my TB rescue from Bowie in May, he came with new coggins done there thru the vet at Bowie. Who knows if he had one from KY where he was previously at a training center. I suspect he did but whoever made the decision to ship him either didn’t have it or didn’t feel they needed it. Coggins are required for interstate travel, but who checks? If on a big commercial horse van, then I’m sure they check and have the coggins papers. But if someone is shipping a smaller number of horses privately, no one at the TX line is going to check. I don’t know Bowie’s policy of insisting that every incoming horse have a current coggins. What I DO know is that Banjo’s coggins, that I have, was done at Bowie by their vet a few days before I picked him up.
On commercial van lines I am sure the transport company makes sure all the paperwork is done before they accept the horse. I did hear, years ago, about how strict Florida was about horses coming into the state. The authorities would flag the big horse vans over, inspect the paperwork and demand that leg wraps were removed so that markings on the horses were the same as on the Coggins tests. But this is Texas and I am sure every stock trailer crammed full of horses is not pulled over and the paperwork compared or even looked at. I suppose Bowie does a test when the horses arrive and surely before they sell them or maybe only when they list them for sale. But with that many horses coming from sketchy circumstances it is inevitable that sometimes something like this happens.
Yep – agree. I’ve traveled back and forth from TX to TN and KY a bunch and have never once seen anything requiring a private trailer to be inspected or stopped.
Those big dealers have enough coggins floating around they can usually make one sort of match.
I wish they were digital and not those old paper copies so they have real photos and can’t scratch the paper under the age.
That was certainly my experience with BrookLedge. Because my pony was leaving Colorado where brand inspection is required, I had to have that documented before they would load him. I’d never received an inspection when I got him from the rescue. They said they would provide it (I think after six months to make sure we were going to keep him), and I forgot about it. Thirteen years later when I was getting ready to move him, the rescue had disappeared. So I had to do a bunch of gyrations to get him inspected and documented. It was a good thing I had a bill of sale, otherwise I don’t know what I could have done. It made me wonder if people ever forged a bill of sale in this circumstance.
Rebecca
Anyone seen all the foals/babies posted to Bowie? I didn’t think foals ship to slaughter. Correct me if I’m wrong and prices have increased for kill pen horses.
There were some nice babies and the DHH mare and her colt were especially adorable! It’s a dream of mine to adopt a Standardbred one day - those poor work horses from the Amish break my heart.
I am in a state of slow agony, waiting for Bowie to post pictures and videos to their website.
I think this is the only time in my life I regret not having Facebook. 
They posted another Andi mare a few days ago. With a foal. This one has been well fed. Not as pretty as the buckskin one but a nice looking and moving mare. I don’t know who is dumping all these well fed horses. You would need one hell of a quarantine situation to buy one though.
They do not
For one thing, would they survive the ride to the plant, packed in a rig?
It’s a waste of space to put a baby, who will get trampled and get the dealer dinged, in there.
I believe USDA reg is 650# and up, but it’s been a long time since I looked them up.
Plants also don’t prefer drafts, as their weight is more bone than meat.
Those plants are assembly lines.
The more uniformity the better.
