Forum 2021

The 29^th National Equine Forum (#NEF21) was held virtually on Thursday 4^th March 2021, the full programme can be viewed below including speaker details and biogs.

#NEF21 was preceded by two special interest webinars: Just in Time - Using Science to Save our Breeds and The Great Weight Debate (Equine), details of these webinars can be found by clicking the relevant button below.

Just in Time - Using Science to Save our Breeds Webinar

The Great Weight Debate (Equine) Webinar

29th National Equine Forum - Resources

HRH The Princess Royal

President, National Equine Forum

HRH The Princess Royal has been a keen rider since childhood. In 1973 The Princess was a member of the British team in the European Three-Day Event Championships at Kiev in the Soviet Union. Two years later, in the same contest in Germany, she won silver medals as an individual competitor and as a team member. The Princess also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games as a member of the British Three-Day Event team. She won an individual gold medal at the European Eventing Championships at Burghley in 1971, and in the same year was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

After five years as President of the British Olympic Association, The Princess was elected to the International Olympic Committee in 1988. In 2005 she led the Team GB bid in Singapore which resulted in London being awarded the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 and in 2006 she was appointed a Director of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

Her Royal Highness is President or Patron of some 300 organisations, including a number of equine bodies, such as the Riding for the Disabled Association, World Horse Welfare and The Horse Trust. The Princess kindly accepted the post of President of the National Equine Forum in 2009, having attended the Forum on many occasions before that.

Tim Brigstocke MBE

Chairman, National Equine Forum

Tim has been Chairman of the NEF since taking over from Prof Sir Colin Spedding in 2012. He has spent his whole career in agriculture having worked in agribusiness, the Government's research service and administered the largest cattle breed society in the world.

Since 1999 Tim has run his own consultancy business which specialises in expert witness work. He is involved in a whole host of organisations in the land-based sector including being Treasurer of RUMA, The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture and Chairman of the UK Government's Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR) expert advisory committee, which includes horses. He also chairs the biannual British Horse Council advisory meeting.

Tim will open and close the day and chairs many of our sessions.

THE EQUINE INDUSTRY IN A CHANGING WORLD

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Rural Affairs & Biosecurity), Defra

Lord Gardiner was reappointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity in January 2018. He served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for two years and is a Conservative member of the House of Lords.

The Minister’s lead responsibilities include animal health, biosecurity, plant and tree health; landscape, including national parks; rural affairs, covering rural life opportunities, broadband and mobile; and all Defra parliamentary business in the House of Lords.
Lord Gardiner was Director of Political Affairs at the Countryside Alliance between 1995 and 2004 and Deputy Chief Executive between 2004 and 2010. He is also a partner in a family farm.

The Minister will deliver an update from Defra with some insight into the next steps for this department over the coming months.

Minette Batters

President, National Farmers' Union

Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. The mixed farming business includes a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd, and a small herd of pedigree Herefords as well as sheep and arable. Diversification includes the conversion of a 17th century tithe barn into a wedding and corporate events venue, and horse liveries. Minette co-founded the campaigning initiatives 'Ladies in Beef' and the 'Great British Beef Week'.

She has been an NFU member from grassroots through to County Chairman; she served as Wiltshire’s Council delegate and also as Regional Board Chairman for the South West.

Minette has also been a member of NFU Governance Board and served as NFU deputy president for four years, before being elected as president. She is also a Trustee of Farm Africa.

Minette will be speaking about the crossover between the farming and the equestrian world.

David Mountford

Chair, British Horse Council

David joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps after graduating from Cambridge. He commanded in Cyprus and Hong Kong and served with the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery before leaving to join what is now World Horse Welfare, where he managed the charity’s operations and veterinary activities.

In 2003, David, together with Roger Smith from the Royal Veterinary College, set up a company developing novel veterinary therapies; around the same time he joined BEVA Council. Having sold the veterinary business in 2010, David took on the new role of BEVA Chief Executive, where he is responsible for supporting equine vets through education, journal publication, and the provision relevant services.

In 2019 David became Chair of the British Horse Council, where he is involved with lobbying and representing both the equine veterinary sector and the wider horse industry. Most of his free time is now spent as a horsebox driver/groom or tinkering with his boat.

David will deliver a roundup of the British Horse Council’s current areas of focus and upcoming plans.

ADDING VALUE THROUGH DATA

Simon Hall

Managing Director, Livestock Information Limited

Simon is an agriculturalist with range of farming experience in England and Australia. He has worked in a range of roles in the Defra group.
Having been running the Livestock Information Programme since it started four years ago, Simon was appointed interim managing director of Livestock Information Ltd, a company set up specifically to deliver livestock traceability services in England, at its inception last year.

He lives on a smallholding in Somerset, where he keeps a range of livestock on a very small scale.

Simon will speak about the Livestock Information Programme, what it is, why it is important and how they are approaching delivery. This will centre around the use of data, and the relationship between government and industry users of that data.

Stewart Everett

Chief Executive, Equine Register

Stewart has a background in IT and business development, is the CEO and founder of Equine Register which manages the Central Equine Database (CED) on behalf of Defra.

Stewart is recognised as advancing the case for digital equine lifetime traceability platforms and is a regular speaker at international events. Equine Register is at the heart of the UK digital equine strategy providing fully integrated, secure, interoperable systems, working with others in this field and is ready to transform the UK equine sector and support trade and movements in a post Brexit world.

Led by Stewart, the Equine Register team have worked with stakeholders and representatives across the equine sector to design digital tools to meet statutory and operational needs and enable users to make good decisions based on real-time verified information. These are systems which are easy to use and which ultimately deliver benefit for all equines.

In the UK, Equine Register’s work, alongside key equine charities, will soon be linking scientific and social research establishments to owners and equine sector stakeholders to support and enable large cohort longitudinal studies to deliver new information and inform advances in the equine sector.

Equine Register is now delivering its integrated traceability solutions internationally.

Stewart lives in Gloucestershire, has just renovated his home, and is a keen runner.

Stewart will speak about the importance of data in driving positive change through integrated systems to boost trade and save time and money.

Dr Sheila Voas

Chief Veterinary Officer for Scotland, Scottish Government

Sheila qualified from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh, then worked in a mixed practice in East Yorkshire until returning to Scotland. She held two part-time jobs, one small animal and equine; the other in a mixed practice in the Borders and continued in that practice until she became a mother to two sons.

During the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 Sheila was a Temporary Veterinary Inspector, following which she joined the then State Veterinary Service (now Animal & Plant Health Agency) permanently working from the Hamilton Office. She then became a Veterinary Advisor to the Scottish Government followed by Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. In 2011 she was made up to Acting Chief Veterinary Officer, which then became permanent.

Outside of work Sheila is to be found enjoying family time, gardening, looking after her geriatric horse and participating in a book group. As District Commissioner of the local branch of the Pony Club, she enjoys seeing children bonding with their ponies and learning to respect and care for them.

Sheila will be part of the panel question session about the value of data in the equine sector and chair the Brexit impact session.

THE IMPACT OF BREXIT ON THE EQUINE INDUSTRY

Claire Williams

Executive Director & Secretary, British Equestrian Trade Association

Claire is from Christchurch, New Zealand following which she spent ten years in Germany. She joined BETA in 2000 where she lobbies on behalf of members, assists in the development of their export markets, oversees the BETA accreditation schemes for body protectors, prohibited substances and specialist feeds, as well as lecturing on the wide range of training courses that BETA runs.

The British Equestrian Trade Association is the leading representative body working on behalf of equestrian related businesses in the UK and beyond. With over 800 member companies from the manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing sectors, BETA is recognised as the equestrian trade’s representative body by Government and leading riding organisations and is a member of British Equestrian.

Claire is a Director of the Animal Medicines Training Regulatory Authority (AMTRA), British Equestrian and British Horse Council, sits on the Saddlery Steering Group set up by the Worshipful Company of Saddlery serves as a technical expert on both the European body protector and hat standards committees.

In her free time Claire rides her two horses, enjoys walking and photography.

Claire will speak about the challenges and opportunities created by Brexit in this sector.

Henry Bullen

Director, Peden Bloodstock

Henry leads all aspects of day-to-day shipping for the UK office. This involves quarantine management, stable management and airport operations for all Peden projects worldwide. Henry is expert at operational co-ordination to ensure project delivery to the highest possible standard.

This involves transport and event operations for major global projects in addition to the many international FEI competitions which Peden provides transport services for, including every Olympic and Paralympic Games since 1992.

A major highlight was being seconded full-time to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to advise and lead the establishment and execution of the logistics for the equestrian venue at Greenwich Park in 2012.

Henry travels widely to international FEI competitions and has an excellent working relationship with national equestrian federations and their teams and he will be telling us about peoples’ experiences in moving horses across EU borders since 1 January this year.

Simon Brooks-Ward CVO OBE

Chairman & Chief Executive, HPower Group

Simon is the Chairman and Chief Executive and owner of The HPower Group and is responsible for overseeing and directing all the HPower Events.

The programme of events staged by HPower is extensive and diverse, including Windsor Horse Show, Olympia - The London International Horse Show at Olympia, All the Queen’s Horses, Euston Park Endurance Series and many commemorative events representing important historic and military occasions and royal celebrations.

HPower also advises on venue development and management and scoping for temporary equestrian venues - previous events include delivery for two Olympic Games (Athens and London). These major productions involved infrastructure, VVIP management, technical services, cost control and security.

Major General Simon Brooks-Ward’s current post in the Army Reserve is Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves & Cadets) and he also served in Iraq.

Simon will be sharing his experiences, and those of equestrian sportspeople, in planning events and horse movements following the UK’s departure from the EU.

HIGHWAY CODE UPDATE, inc. A CASE STUDY

Alan Hiscox

Director of Safety, The British Horse Society

Alan Hiscox is the strategic lead for safety in the British Horse Society (BHS). He heads the award winning ‘Dead Slow’ campaign and represents equestrians on the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport and Safety.

A former police officer, Alan retired as the Chief Equitation Officer for the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch having advised police forces all over the world, presenting seminars and training events on police horse training and tactics. He led the Police Horse Display Ride for 14 years, performing at Olympia, Horse of the Year Show and abroad. He is passionate about improving the safety of horses, riders and carriage drivers on the roads.

Alan has been instrumental in developing the partnership with other vulnerable road users, thereby significantly increasing the profile of equestrians in the road safety community.

Alan will speak about how the BHS helped inform changes to the Highway Code in the interests of the safety of all equines on the road.

Gaynor, Amy & Rambo McKinnon

Sadie Jeater

In October 2020, Amy McKinnon and her horse, Rambo, were on a hack with a friend along a bridleway that crosses a busy A road. A motorbike went past the end of the bridlepath without slowing down and both horses spooked, with Rambo going into the path of an oncoming car.

Along with her mother, Gaynor McKinnon, and the driver of the car involved, Sadie Jeater, Amy shares her account of the incident that followed in a video from The British Horse Society (BHS).

Amy is nearly 18 years old and currently in her A Level year at school. Amy and beloved horse Rambo compete in British Eventing at BE100 level.

As a former airline pilot and flying school owner, Amy’s mother, Gaynor, spent her career in an industry heavily focused on safety and mitigation and is an active BHS member.

Sadie grew up close to where the incident happened and has experience with horses herself. Riding from a young age, Sadie studied equine studies at Brinsbury College before working at an Arab stud farm for several years.

With this unique perspective from all involved, the team discuss the impact of the incident, and what they would like to see addressed to make roads safer for equestrians.

ENGAGING WITH MORE DIVERSE COMMUNITIES WITHIN EQUESTRIANISM

Jess Cook

Council Elected Director & Equality Engagement Group Chair, British Equestrian

Jess has over 14 years’ experience of working in equality, diversity and inclusion. She started her career as a Disability County Sports Development Officer then joining Activity Alliance and has progressed to working with National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGB’s) helping to deliver on a wide variety of strategic outcomes. This includes support, guidance and the development of national strategies and organisational changes to have a more inclusive approach.

Jess is also a Council Elected Director for British Equestrian, responsible for equality and diversity, as well as being a Trustee of the Riding for the Disables Association with responsibility for partnerships and disability.

From Jess we will hear about the importance of equality and diversity in the equine world and the BEF Equality Engagement Group’s priorities.

Sandra Murphy

Founder & Chairperson, BAME Equine & Rural Activities Focus Group (BERF)

Sandra is the CEO of Equidiet UK Ltd, which developed the world’s first Patented Liquid Feed for horses. She recently won the Entrepreneur of the Year at the prestigious Veterans Awards 2019 and more recently, in Black History Month, the Black British Business Award 2020. Being a senior leader in her successful black owned and run equine nutrition business, Sandra has developed a platform to help encourage and inspire more black females to follow their dreams and goals whether it be in sport, business or in life.

Sandra is the founder and Chairperson for the BAME Equine and Rural Activities Focus Group (BERF). BERF provides a safe, supportive platform for BAME people to share their experiences, discuss their issues and to source support information, guidance and opportunities in all matters equine and for all rural activities. As a member of the British Equestrian Equality Engagement Group, Sandra and her colleagues seek to improve equality and diversity in the equine sports sector and influence the creation of a framework for the strategies that will help to change the current narrative and produce policies and incentives to secure more representation from the BAME community.

Sandra will be speaking about the importance of diversity and inclusivity and hoping to raise awareness, improve representation and tackle the issues to create lasting change in the equine sector.

Navaratnam Partheeban

Committee Member, BAME Equine & Rural Activities Focus Group (BERF)

Navaratnam is a vet and has worked in clinical practice and veterinary pharmaceuticals as well as being a senior lecturer in higher education. He currently works as a Technical Dairy Specialist for a global animal health company.

Having worked within many sectors, Navaratnam understands the barriers, lack of support and education with regards to race and ethnicity in the veterinary, farming and agricultural sectors and works regularly with BAME people to help find solutions to making these places more diverse, inclusive and equal for all.

He has spoken extensively on diversity and inclusion, featuring on TV and radio, including BBC Countryfile, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Asian Network, as well as being interviewed by the Veterinary Record and the NFU Young Farmer Magazine amongst others. He has been an invited speaker on this topic at many congresses and was recently awarded recognition as a 2020 Oxford Farming Emerging Leader for his work in this area.

Navaratnam is currently writing a course on Race and Ethnicity for the University of Nottingham, sits on the RCVS Diversity & Inclusion Panel having completed a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion in Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. He is currently completing a Nuffield Farming Scholarship on this subject and will speak about the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the equine sector.

Rose Grissell

Head of Diversity & Inclusion, British Horseracing Authority

Rose joined the British Horseracing Authority to lead the diversity and inclusion activity across British Racing. She works closely with the Diversity in Racing Steering Group, made up of representatives across the sport to ensure racing is a diverse and inclusive sport in which everyone has the same opportunity to achieve their potential and where fans from all communities feel welcome.

Rose previously worked in the charity sector, most recently at The Lord Mayor’s Appeal where she led the Power of Diversity programme for the financial and professional services sector and developed initiatives including ‘She Can Be’, a programme to encourage young women into City careers, and the mental health awareness campaigns ‘This is Me’ and the ‘Green Ribbon Campaign’.

Rose has been lucky to be surrounded by horses and racing her whole life. She has previously trained point to point horses and still hopes to continue riding in point to points.

We will hear from Rose about horseracing’s diversity and inclusivity programme, examples of initiatives and activity, what they have learned and priorities for the year ahead.

Imran Atcha

Coordinator, St James City Farm Riding School

Imran has been a youth and community worker in Gloucester for over 20 years. His personal experiences and passion for horses has meant that, for over a decade, he has been using every opportunity to promote horses to the children from the inner city.

This led to the establishment of the first inner-city based riding school in the South West, one of a handful of similar projects across the UK. In 2010, Imran brought three children at a time to Hartpury College for their introduction to horses. Now (pre-Covid), up to 50 children a week enjoy their first experience with ponies at St James City Farm Riding School, in one of the most built up and socially disadvantaged areas of the county. Lessons are deliberately affordable and the ponies are taken to primary schools and community settings. The project is part of a charity ‘The Friendship Café’ run mainly by dedicated volunteers.

Imran was supported by Hartpury College and the BHS Scholarship Scheme to undertake his basic coaching qualifications and he is a member of British Equestrian’s Equality Advisory Board, and an advisor to a larger urban equestrian project in Leicester.

Imran will tell us about his personal journey to the horse world, the reason for the establishment of the riding school and the benefits to children and adults alike. We will hear about the challenges of running the riding school in the inner city and some of our examples of their work.

THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT EQUESTRIANISM

Dr Russell McKechnie-Guire

Director, Centaur Biomechanics

Russell graduated from Warwickshire College with a BSc (Hons) in Equine and Human Sports Science and now holds a PhD in Equine Biomechanics from the Royal Veterinary College. His thesis was titled ‘The Relationship between Saddle and Rider Kinematics, Equine Locomotion, and Thoracolumbar Pressures in Sports Horses’.

Russell is based at Centaur Biomechanics, a company which he founded in 2006. He has extensively researched the effect that tack has on equine health and performance and his current area of research is horse-saddle-rider interaction, spinal kinematics in horses when ridden over ground and the effect that rider asymmetry has on equine back movement.

Russell collaborates with researchers from around the world on research projects associated with equine health and performance. He regularly presents his work at international meetings and is a consultant for British Equestrian’s Team GBR programme. Russell is a member of the Team GBR’s Scientific Advisory Group, Society of Master Saddlers Scientific Advisory Group and chairs the horse and rider subgroup, part of the International Task Force on Laterality in Sports Horses.

Following on from the data session this morning, Russell will explain how technology is enhancing equine performance and wellbeing.

SPECIAL INTEREST WEBINARS - UPDATES & CONCLUSIONS

Prof Tim Morris

Vice Chair, Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Professor Tim Morris is a Veterinarian who was formerly Director of Equine Science and Welfare for the British Horseracing Authority. Following qualification from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) as a Veterinary Surgeon, he was in practice before returning to the RVC to complete a PhD.

He then held a range of roles in research, clinical veterinary medicine, and then public affairs for the international pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.

He is a visiting professor at the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, has held a number of roles in veterinary and scientific organisations, industry bodies, and animal welfare charities. Tim advises commercial organisations, is Vice Chair of the Rare Breed Survival Trust and a non-executive Board member of the UK Government’s Animal Health and Welfare Board for England.

Tim will update us on the outcomes of the National Equine Forum’s first special interest webinar, Just in Time: Using Science to Save our Breeds.

Prof Pat Harris

Director of Science, MARS™ Horsecare

After qualifying from Cambridge University, Pat completed her PhD at the Animal Health Trust into the Equine Rhabdomyolysis Syndrome and joined the WALTHAMTM Centre for Pet Nutrition (now WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute).

As Director of Science for MARS Horsecare and Head of Equine Studies Group at WALTHAM she is responsible for their equine research conducted in collaboration with experts at institutes and universities globally. This provides the science behind the SPILLERS™, BUCKEYE™ Nutrition and WINERGY™ brands.

Pat is a European Specialist in Veterinary Clinical and Comparative Nutrition, a RCVS recognised specialist in veterinary clinical nutrition (equine) and a British Equine Veterinary Association Past-President. She is also a member of several boards and groups and holds a number of academic posts within institutions around the world.

She lectures internationally on nutrition as it affects the health, welfare, behaviour and performance of the horse. She is the author or co-author of over 500 scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters with recent emphasis on obesity, laminitis and senior horse nutrition.

Pat will update on the Great Weight Debate (Equine) special interest webinar, chair the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion session, and announce the Special Covid-19 Sir Colin Spedding Award winner.

Dr Tamzin Furtado

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Liverpool

Tamzin is a social scientist with a background in global health and has a specific interest in the interconnections between human and animal health and wellbeing. She completed a PhD at the University of Liverpool studying how we can improve the management of obesity in horses, particularly focusing on horse-human relationships and human behaviour change.

She now works on projects covering a wide range of aspects of understanding human behaviour in order to improve companion animal welfare, and in using social sciences to find out more about how we can help people to change.

Tamzin has looked at the outcomes from the special interest webinars from a human behaviour point of view and will present a summary of her findings and suggestions for future action.

Sponsors

Corporate Friends

Dodson & Horrell
Jeffress Scholarship Trust
Neue Schule
SEIB Insurance Brokers
Weatherbys E-Passport

Friends

The 826 Equine Studbooks Association
Patricia Adorian
Anglo European Studbook
Central Prefix Register
Cob Care
James Rayner
The Lipizzaner Society of Great Britain
The Society of Master Saddlers
Traditional Gypsy Cob Association
West Kington Stud
The Worshipful Company of Farriers