SIW 2 2021

The Great Weight Debate (Equine)

The second special interest webinar in our series preceding the 29^th National Equine Forum (#NEF21) was entitled "The Great Weight Debate (Equine)".

The webinar took place on Wednesday 27th January 2021, the webinar replay is now closed.

RESOURCES

The equine obesity epidemic is ongoing – despite many attempts from industry to effect change. This webinar explores different perspectives from across the equestrian sector regarding what is preventing owners/carers from managing horse, pony and donkey weight effectively, and how these may be overcome. This is supported by a human behaviour change researcher. Conclusions and possible pathways for change will be presented at #NEF21.

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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 Equidae. He also chairs the biannual British Horse Council advisory meeting.

Tim Brigstocke will welcome attendees to the webinar, and close it.

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 WALTHAM 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 various 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 introduce and chair the webinar.

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 will look for connections in the approaches of the different presenters and make some suggestions as to the way forward at the 29th National Equine Forum on Thursday 4th March 2021 (#NEF21).

Lucy Grieve

President, British Equine Veterinary Association

Lucy Grieve is an ambulatory vet at Rossdales equine practice in Newmarket.

After qualifying from Cambridge University, Lucy completed a diagnostic imaging internship at Rossdales Equine Diagnostic Centre. After this she spent seven years as an in-house vet for Sheikh Mohammed’s racehorse pre-training facility in Newmarket and, after a family break, she returned to Rossdales as a part-time ambulatory vet. Her main areas of interest are lameness, diagnostic imaging, poor performance, equine behaviour, and the ‘horse-owner-vet' relationship.

Lucy is the current president of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), chair of the Ethics and Welfare Committee and a member of the Equestrian Sports Committee, which liaises with regulatory bodies such as the BHA and FEI. She is also co-opted onto the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) Thoroughbred Research Consultation Group. Through the BEVA she takes an active role in vet education, writing articles, speaking at events and organising courses.

Lucy will talk about the prevalence of obesity amongst horses encountered daily by vets and the problems these horses face. She will explain the difficulties in discussing equine obesity with horse owners, the challenges faced when trying to put in place weight management strategies and why these strategies seem to fail so often.

Helen Gale

Horse Owner & Marketing Consultant

Helen is a freelance Marketing Consultant who works within the equine veterinary industry. A graduate of Warwickshire College, who has a BA (Hons) Equine Studies with Business Management, and who has previously worked within the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry in the UK and USA.  Helen owns three horses and currently competes one in British Eventing, British Dressage and riding club activities. 

Helen will talk from the perspective of a horse owner regarding what she considers are the main challenges of equine weight management. These are recognising a healthy weight, managing feed intake in the face of compelling marketing, the influence of social media, the more ready availability of haylage, appropriate rugging, the calorific intake from grass, exercise, time poverty and the availability of supporting facilities. Helen will then get stuck into the possible solutions.

Beth Maloney

Director, Thurleigh Equestrian Centre

Beth Maloney (BHSI-ISM, MBA) began her equine career at Catherston Stud with Jennie Loriston-Clarke and studied at Warwickshire College of Agriculture, Coventry University and the Open University. After working in the music industry for a few years, her passion for horses brought her back to the equine industry.  Beth has worked as an Assistant Principal, Director and Lecturer in Land-based and General FE/HE Colleges, and whilst lecturing, Beth wrote a variety of textbooks on equine physiology and nutrition.  She also spent 6 years working for the Independent Schools Inspectorate as a Lead Inspector for Private Colleges. 

Alongside these roles, she set up her own business, Horses & Courses Ltd, an equine training company and was the non-executive Director for Participation at the British Equestrian Federation for two terms. Beth set up Thurleigh Equestrian Centre, a BHS approved livery and training yard in Bedfordshire, which she now runs alongside Horses & Courses.  Beth is the senior instructor at TEC whilst training and competing her own two dressage horses.

Beth considers the livery owner’s perspective of managing the overweight horse, how she focuses on working with the owner to improve their awareness and understanding, using regular weighing and body condition scoring and input from equine nutritionist. It is a matter of tackling the challenge of weight management without the owner feeling that their horse is not being fed enough.

Liz Bulbrook

Director of Nutrition, Baileys Horse Feeds

Liz graduated from Reading University with a BSc (Hons) in Physiology, Biochemistry and Nutrition of Farm Animals.  She then worked for the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) at their Feed Evaluation Unit as a scientific officer, before moving on to specialise in equine nutrition.

Having joined Baileys Horse Feeds as an equine nutritionist, Liz is now the Nutrition and Technical Director. With over 30 years of experience in the horse feed industry, she enjoys the versatility and challenges that the role can bring and has seen plenty of changes and progress. She enjoys applied and clinical nutrition, working for clients both in the UK and abroad, as well helping to promote feeding knowledge, education and support to owners for the benefit of the welfare of the horse. 

Liz is an active member of the BETA NOPS (Naturally Occurring Prohibited Substances) working group set up to reduce the risks of NOPS in feed and supplements.

Liz discusses the impact of obesity on metabolic issues, poor performance, lameness and longevity. Her observations are that most owners underestimate their horse’s weight and body condition score and overestimate the amount of exercise they do. The work Liz undertakes to improve the situation includes balancing nutrients in the diet with exercise and calories. Helping owners support weight loss is a matter of education as well as human behaviour change.

David Ingle

Chairman, The Showing Council

David is a senior Judge on many showing panels and the former Chair of Judges for the British Show Horse Association, in addition to Chairing The Showing Council.

As Director of Showing at Hickstead, he oversees the showing sections at both The Al’Shiraa Derby Meeting and The BHS Royal International Horse Show. He previously enjoyed a successful time as breeder, a point-to-point rider and trainer and producer of top-class horses for competition, having a particular love of the Thoroughbred

David now works primarily as a business consultant, expert witness and mediator.

Focusing on the showing world, David will highlight the challenges of bringing a wealth of good information to the attention of diverse showing bodies who do not have a “governing body”. He will cover the importance of consultation and consensus which have been shown to be very effective in the implementation of other policies and standards.

Penny Baker

Field Officer, World Horse Welfare

A BSc (Hons) graduate in Equine Studies, Penny went on to have a career in the equine industry before joining the RSPCA.  She held the role of Inspector for 12 years and was honoured with the Anderson Plume award for her investigation work.  In addition to the role of Inspector she became an equine specialist officer and worked on large equine cases, feral horse round ups and attended UK horse fairs such as Appleby, Stowe and Wickham.  She joined World Horse Welfare and now and covers Hampshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire in the role of Field Officer, responding to welfare calls from the public. As a front-line officer, she works closely with other charities as well as Police, Trading Standards and other local authority agencies.  She has a history of practical experience and on a personal level has enjoyed success on the national showing circuit.

Penny will share her insights into the reasons why horse owners find it so difficult to keep their horse a healthy weight and the complex human behaviour factors around this. She will share her experiences of owner reactions to welfare officer visits and the extent to which the overweight horse factors in welfare calls and visits.

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Corporate Friends

Jeffress Scholarship Trust

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