Actual cost per sample must be several hundred dollars or more considering the amount of labor the collection process involves + lab costs + program administration. I got paid somewhere around $20/hour + $35/day per diem as a technician (pee catcher) about 8 or 9 years ago and $300 or so was a normal daily paycheck working a semi-local show and more when we travelled several hours each way. We were paid from the moment began travel to a show and until the minute we out of the car at home. There were usually 3 techs + 1 vet. I don’t know how much the vet was paid but I’m sure it was very generous since, by design, the USEF contracts third party private veterinarians and techs to carry out the testing at shows and must make it lucrative enough for them to want these gigs and take it seriously/pay attention to detail, which they do so that the USEF will continue to use them in the future. Trust me, you WANT these guys to paid absurdly well so their loyalty is to USEF and not tempted by payoffs from dishonest trainers/owners.
Anyway, I’d do maybe 5 or 6 horses a day. So 15-20 total per day using the standard 3 tech + vet. This sounds pathetic until you consider the time warp that is urine sample collection. Once selected, the horse must be constantly be visually observed, so accommodation of each competitor’s show schedule means I follow it around until it is done with its classes or has a long enough break to go back to the stall for long enough to reasonably do the test. Then the horse gets cooled out, bathed, whatever is necessary and normal, then into a stall where at some point blood is collected by the vet and it might or might not urinate, but anyway, we were instructed to wait a long time on each horse before giving up, usually at least an hour or two. The USEF really wanted urine samples, not just blood, even if it meant sinking a huge amount of time e into a single horse. You can imagine how hardworking horses in the heat do not urinate too much, so those shows were a bit of a challenge. Thee USEF even commented unfavorably once on our low numbers, to which the vet reminded them that he was sent to a horse trial in August in the South, temperature and relative humidity were both in the upper 90’s, and that he did not pee very much at all that day, either.
Being selected for drug testing is unavoidably a bit of a hassle, but is just a normal part of the horse show experience. I encountered a some folks who were ugly or unpleasant about the whole thing, but the VAST majority of competitors were happy to see the USEF show up at their show as evidence of their fees being put to use to enforce the rules. If selected for testing, it will mean accommodating the testing process, but don’t get weirded out by it or let it shake your focus on showing. Deliberate stalling the testing process is not allowed, but don’t put yourself in a bad position between classes to go back the stall to test, either. As a tech, I always explained the process so they would know what to expect and reminded them that showing their horse was first priority for both of us. Do make an effort to facilitate testing when you have a decent break between classes and take your horse back to the barn. There’s nothing to be gained by prolonging the test unnecessarily and most people want to do what they can to expedite things and move on with their lives. Even if you know your horse is difficult for blood draws or isn’t likely to pee/allow the catch, please know that the they have to try and go through the motions anyway. It’s not that they don’t believe you or are trying to prove you wrong, only that they cannot set the precedent of letting horses go untested by such warnings. Otherwise, everyone who didn’t want their animal tested would use it, and trust me, it was a common thing. I can only remember the vet being unsuccessful in one instance and while it was common enough not to get urine, I was successful at least half the time on getting urine even when I was told upfront that there was no chance.
Just throwing my experience out there in case it helps anyone understand a little more what is going on from the other side of things.
