Taking Blood

The mares are brought home from the fields

They run home to the corral where the blood is taken from them

Mares and foals in the corral

The vet arrives at the decided time, the trailer holds containers for the blood

The containers have to be carried inside the stable, one container for each mare

Before the containers are filled with blood, they all contain fluid that prevents the blood from solidifying and also avoids disinfection in the blood.

When everything is ready, the mares are guided one by one into a special booth, designed for blood taking. On this farm there are two blood-booths, one indoors and one outdoors.

The farmer Kristján guides the mares into the booths. One "worker" is ready by each booth to put halter on the mares and hold the halter. The vet then takes care of the blood taking from the mares.

When the mare has got a halter on and is ready, it gets a local anasthetic so it wont feel the blood taking needle

An elastic band is put around the mares neck before the blood is taken

The needle is put on it's place.......

......and the blood runs fluently into the container.

5 liters of blood are taken from each mare.

The vet takes care of both of the blood booths at the same time

Stefán the vet in action

The only thing you can see on the mares after the blood has been taken is a little sign of the needle on the mares neck

Each container is signed with a number of the farm, number of the mare and at the back of this ticked is a letter that indicates the physical condition of the mare.

If a mare does not have enough hormones in her blood, it is not taken from her. Instead the vet takes a specimen from the blood. If the specimen indicates that the mare does now produce enough hormones, blood will be taken from her in 7 days time. Every week blood is taken from the mares. It is different for every individual mare though, how often blood can be taken from it. A good bloodmare gives around 40 litres of blood every summer.

Bloodtaking finished for the day! Those containers hold 200 litres of blood altogether.

The containers are carried back to the trailer

The vet puts them back in place.......

......and the mares go back to the fields