Keeneland encourages use of repository for endoscopy videos

When buying untrained, untried youngsters as high-dollar racing prospects in a highly selective market, any bit of data a potential buyer can glean, including veterinary data, is important to the process. That includes an endoscopic examination, in which a flexible tube with a camera is sent up a horse’s nasal passage to examine the airway’s structure, with an eye out for defects that may inhibit athletic potential. Popular yearlings may theoretically undergo dozens of scopes, with the only limits placed by consignors.

In an effort to take a degree of stress off young horses, a growing movement has emerged among consignors and buyers to scale back the number of endoscopic examinations a yearling undergoes, in some cases by making high-quality video of exams available for viewing by potential buyers. In advance of the September yearling sale – where time is of the essence for buyers, who may have hundreds of yearlings to inspect – Keeneland is encouraging consignors and veterinarians to utilize the video capabilities of its repository to upload and view endoscopies.

Asteris Keystone, Keeneland’s repository software, has the capability to upload quality videos of scopes and allow users to view them, along with other oft-referenced veterinary materials such as digital radiographs and submitted eye certificates or surgery letters.

“Keeneland is hopeful that through educating veterinarians, buyers, and consignors on the capabilities of the repository software, all parties will feel confident in using these procedures in the near future,” Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales operations, said in a release.

Although the movement to cut down on the number of scopes for an individual horse is relatively new, the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in 2016 released its “Protocol for Pre-Sale Videoendoscopic Examination of the Upper Airway at Public Auction,” establishing a set of standards that can apply to these video repositories and thus help create uniformity among sales companies.

The protocols state that equipment used must be capable of producing a digital video image of excellent quality; give guidelines for the appropriate identification of the horse being examined as a single-stream video with no editing; and that the veterinarian performing the exam must submit each video on an individual flash drive or disk. The protocols also outline the technique for the procedure, which must include maximal abduction of arytenoids induced by swallowing multiple times and nasal occlusion. The length of the video must allow one to identify all laryngeal and pharyngeal structures as well as observing their maximal function. The protocols also state that the pre-sale video exam must take place within 10 days of the scheduled sale of the horse.

In July, the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association (CBA) announced it endorsed the AAEP’s protocols as a guideline.

“In this day and age, any time we can take one step back and consider both animal welfare and the public perception of animal welfare, that is something we need to do,” Gray Lyster, president of the CBA, said in a release. “Every year it’s a bigger percentage of people who use videos, and there has been more talk about it with the CBA board for the past 12 months than there has ever been. We want to offer this as a tool and really encourage it.”

Keeneland will also follow the AAEP’s guidelines for scope videos. For consignors who choose to submit video scopes, Keeneland will require those videos to be recorded and submitted no more than 10 days from the sale date of the horse, preferably being recorded when the horse has arrived on the sale grounds.

Similar to the traditional viewing of digital radiographs, registered veterinarians inspecting horses for prospective buyers will be able to view available scope videos in the repository. Just as consignors are notified when a veterinarian views digital radiographs of their horse, they also will have the choice to be notified when a veterinarian views a video scope of their horse.