Stables 577 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 (edited) I understand that many trainers treat horses for viruses by taking large amounts of blood from them. The idea behind this practice is to take out bad blood and replace it with new rejuvenated blood. In one case I heard 10 litres of blood was removed. Horses have between 45 to 55 litres of blood. I find it hard to believe that this amount of blood could be removed without the horse going into shock. Has anybody else heard of this procedure for treating viruses in racehorses. I had thought that we had moved on a little bit in veterinary medicine from medieval procedures such as this. Edited October 31, 2018 by Stables spelling mistake Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBlackie 128 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 Hi Stables When I was involved(20 odd years ago)it was a common practice, and part of the treatment procedure. You’d tie the horse up in a cross tie and a lead to keep their head up and a large needle into the jugular. You’d place a bucket underneath to catch the blood, up to 10 litres. The lead would keep the horse from putting their head down and passing out, you’d watch and make sure it didn’t get to that point. Was it successful? Hard to know in isolation but with drugs etc, part of the routine. Some very experienced vets were involved. Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stables 577 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 Thanks Cosmic. Did you observe any disasters from this procedure. How long did it take the horses to recover? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBlackie 128 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 No, no disasters, pretty controlled with the expensive horse flesh involved. I think you let them stand for another 30-60 mins and they just walk off as normal. They’d usually be having a small break anyway after that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crustyngrizzly 1,701 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Stables said: I understand that many trainers treat horses for viruses by taking large amounts of blood from them. The idea behind this practice is to take out bad blood and replace it with new rejuvenated blood. In one case I heard 10 litres of blood was removed. Horses have between 45 to 55 litres of blood. I find it hard to believe that this amount of blood could be removed without the horse going into shock. Has anybody else heard of this procedure for treating viruses in racehorses. I had thought that we had moved on a little bit in veterinary medicine from medieval procedures such as this. Sounds like something that the Finnish runner Lasse Viren used to do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBlackie 128 Report post Posted October 31, 2018 Hi Crusty, a little. He was training at altitude and harvesting the blood, storing it, then coming down to sea level he would swap the harvest out with his blood and compete with the high octane in his system Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee270744 684 Report post Posted November 1, 2018 8 hours ago, Stables said: I understand that many trainers treat horses for viruses by taking large amounts of blood from them. The idea behind this practice is to take out bad blood and replace it with new rejuvenated blood. In one case I heard 10 litres of blood was removed. Horses have between 45 to 55 litres of blood. I find it hard to believe that this amount of blood could be removed without the horse going into shock. Has anybody else heard of this procedure for treating viruses in racehorses. I had thought that we had moved on a little bit in veterinary medicine from medieval procedures such as this. Can you find out where they get the rejuvenated blood from? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBlackie 128 Report post Posted November 1, 2018 Hi Lee Surely it comes from the horses own bone marrow. When we were doing it, the horse was never topped up with any other blood product, just let nature produce more. Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stables 577 Report post Posted November 1, 2018 Yes the horse regenerates its own blood. If blood from any other source was used the horses immune system would reject it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee270744 684 Report post Posted November 1, 2018 Sorry, I thought you meant to rejuvenate the blood taken from the horse. And a lot of trainers that got horses from other trainers took precautions and bled them to start afresh not knowing what the other one had given it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stables 577 Report post Posted November 1, 2018 You may be thinking of Blood boosting. This is a method where blood is removed, stored and reinjected at a later date thereby boosting the horses red blood cell count. This is strictly against the rules of racing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...