It is now Federal law that you have a
Coggins test done on any horse that will be sold,
shown, or traveling out of state.
 Many people have the test performed on their
horses even though the animal never leaves the
farm. The test is to be done each year and is
accomplished by your vet who draws blood from the
horse and takes it to an approved lab. The results
are returned to the vet in 2-3 days.
When the
blood is drawn your vet will fill out a form which
accompanies the blood sample; one copy is for the
lab, one for the vet and one is returned
to you. If the results are negative your
horse is free to travel, be sold or whatever. If,
however, the results are positive your horse,
sad to say, must either be quarantined or
destroyed.
The Coggins test was developed by Dr. Leroy
Coggins in 1970 to detect the presence of equine
infectious anemia, which is a virus transmitted
frequently by insect bites, particularly
mosquitoes. This virus affects all animals in the
horse family, including mules, donkeys, ponies,
zebras and so on.
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