The BEVA Trust Silent Auction is Underway

Charlotte Smith:  First though, a serious horse disease has been found in two horses in Wiltshire.  There hasn’t been a case of equine infectious anaemia, or EIA, in the UK for more than thirty years. The two horses had been imported from Romania where the disease is endemic.  They’ve now been destroyed. Nigel Gibbens is the UK’s Chief Vet. Nigel Gibbens (Chief Vet):  It’s very serious, it’s a viral disease which there is no vaccine and no effective treatment.  It can affect horses in an acute form which causes recurring fever, anaemia, possibly swelling of the lower limbs, weight loss and death, or it can be more chronic and that can range from not showing signs to being unfit and being chronically unfit and it is very hard to diagnose unless the test is taken (break in transmission) so they always present a threat of further spread.  And it’s spread essentially by biting flies, but also potentially by other things used on animals such as needles or surgical equipment or so on, that could transmit disease fr ...

Equine Infectious Anaemia

I would like to start my year as President by thanking the out-going President, Chris House, for his immense amount of hard work and for the dedication with which he has guided BEVA during “his” year. BEVA owes a huge debt of gratitude to Chris, not only for his work this year but for all of his work on BEVA Council for the best part of a decade now. During Chris’ year as President, BEVA worked frequently on welfare matters –an area of particular interest to Chris and something which is a core part of our mission statement. BEVA will continue to champion high standards of equine health and welfare in 2010, at a national level and also in collaboration with our sister equine veterinary organisations at an international level. Plans are underway to hold a pre-Congress welfare meeting in association with the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in Birmingham in 2010. We are also developing plans for a BEVA- led meeting of international veterinary surgeons to address the problems surrounding the ...

The BEVA Trust, the charitable arm of the British Equine Veterinary Association, is delighted to announce that it will be funding not only its largest project to date, but one that also has the potential to make a significant impact across the fields of education, veterinary science,  and equine welfare. The Trust will be funding a prestigious three-year Research Fellowship in Equine Science at the Selwyn College, University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine. Selwyn College is delighted to collaborate with the Veterinary School in offering a promising researcher the opportunity to come to Cambridge University, and to improve the welfare of equids across the world. Selwyn College was founded in 1882, and has almost 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and 60 Fellows. It has a long commitment to the training of veterinary students, provides a lively environment for its veterinary students throughout their pre-clinical and clinical studies, and also has a strong research cu ...

Video Footage

BEVA views the recent announcement by the FEI that they are to adopt a “Progressive List” of medications that are permissible for horses in competitions to be an extremely retrograde step for equine welfare.  This decision obscures the distinction between therapy and subjecting unsound horses to the stresses of competition.  Furthermore, we have grave concerns that horses competing whilst under treatment with pain-relieving medicines, are at an increased risk of musculoskeletal lesions progressing to catastrophic injuries.

We see this announcement as a backward step for the development of equestrian sport that is contrary to the public aspiration of drug-free competition. We would strongly encourage a rational review of the available evidence and if necessary new research to try and formulate a more scientific basis for these regulations.

Henry Tremaine,   BEVA Honorary Information Officer.

 

"High autumn prevalence of atypical myopathy across europe" -We like to alert practitioners that there has been extremely high prevalence of equine atypical myopathy this autumn. During October an unusually high number of cases has been observed in southern England and throughout northern Europe. This condition affects individual and groups of horses at pasture and has a high mortality rate. Young horses in poor to normal bodily condition are particularly prone to the condition and risk factors include cold, damp, frost-free weather and pastures with poor natural drainage and vegetation of low nutritional value. Affected horses have discoloured brown urine and are stiff and weak progressing to recumbency. In its early stages, the condition can be confused with colic or laminitis. Serum activities of creatine kinase and aspartate transaminase and urine myoglobin concentrations are extremely increased. Intensive supportive care is indicated. For more information on preventative measures, and to report suspected ...

We like to alert practitioners that there has been extremely high prevalence of equine atypical myopathy this autumn. During October an unusually high number of cases has been observed in southern England and throughout northern Europe. This condition affects individual and groups of horses at pasture and has a high mortality rate. Young horses in poor to normal bodily condition are particularly prone to the condition and risk factors include cold, damp, frost-free weather and pastures with poor natural drainage and vegetation of low nutritional value. Affected horses have discoloured brown urine and are stiff and weak progressing to recumbency. In its early stages, the condition can be confused with colic or laminitis. Serum activities of creatine kinase and aspartate transaminase and urine myoglobin concentrations are extremely increased. Intensive supportive care is indicated. For more information on preventative measures, and to report suspected cases, please go to www.myopathieatypique.be. Dominique Voti ...

BEVA members are entitled to claim reciprocal member rates at a number of our sister association congresses. You will usually need to quote your membership number, which can be found near the address on your monthly mailing, or email us at info@beva.org.uk or call us on +44 (0)1638 723 555

 

FEEVA/Irish Equine Veterinary Conference 6th-8th  Nov 2009

AAEP Convention, 5th-9th Dec 2009, Las Vegas, Nevada

ACPAT 30th-31st Jan 2010

SIVE 29th-31st Jan 2010

Voorjaarsdagen/European Veterinary Conference 22nd-24th April 2010

 

Full details and registation information can be found on our calendar of events.