The Blood Test

For everyone following the donkey "are they or aren't they pregnant" saga, we are about to get some real answers. 

The vet was out today to draw blood so we can have an estrogen assay done at a laboratory in Lexington, KY. The test will check for the amount of estrogen currently in their blood--higher indicating pregnancy unless she is within 1-2 weeks of foaling in which their estrogen level will be going back down rather quickly (which could lead to a borderline false negative, but then we just wait a week or so to see if they pop!). We had to spin down the blood today so we can just send the serum and it gets packaged and mailed tomorrow. I think I am going to spring to overnight the package so we can get results by Friday. smile emoticon

I decided to go this route because our local vet can't ultrasound and they are too small to palpate. The other option was trailering them over an hour to the closest equine clinic. Between the cost and the fact they stress pretty bad in a trailer, this seemed like the easier route. And it's pretty darn cheap, I'm not gonna lie!

This little procedure was done right in the middle of the search for Lilly Frost this morning. And the best part? Lilly was supposed to get her blood taken too--to finally disprove her pregnancy once and for all. But I guess she did it anyway and saved me some money--I am pretty darn sure no mare at 368 days goes gallivanting around the countryside for 7 hours!