Bruce Bladon, principal equine surgeon at Donnington Grove Equine Vets, has been appointed as President of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) for 2024/25. He takes over the role from Roger Smith at the end of BEVA Congress 11th -14th September 2024. Imogen Burrows becomes President Elect and Kate Blakeman becomes Junior Vice President.
Following graduation from the University of Edinburgh, Bruce had a year in mixed practice before joining an equine practice. He went on to complete a Residency in Surgery and since 1998 has worked as equine surgeon at Donnington Grove. Bruce’s interest is equine surgery, including arthroscopy, fracture repair, colic and airway surgery. He also has an interest in imaging including MRI, scintigraphy and radiology. He was equine surgeon for the Rio Olympic Games and was awarded a fellowship of the RCVS in 2016, for meritorious contributions to clinical practice.
“BEVA has been a huge part of my career, since I was taken to a meeting when I was a student seeing practice at Rossdales”, said Bruce. “So, I was keen to be part of Council once my time commitments at Donnington were reasonably under control. I am both proud and delighted to take up the mantle of presidency”.
During his presidential year Bruce is keen to explore the theme ‘Use it Wisely or Lose it Forever’ in several ways - including the usage of antibiotics, the possibility of over -treatment and over-medication of the sport horse, and the use of potentially unnecessary surgical procedures. He hopes to start a national antibiotic monitoring programme so that the usage of antibiotics in equine practice can be published alongside farm animal usage data in the Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS).
Jenny Hindmarsh, Rebekah Sullivan and Jo Suthers have joined BEVA Council this year and Ian Beamish and Gemma Dransfield have been re-elected onto council.