2008 ACPAT Spring Seminar Review - Saturday

Saturday 15th March 2008
Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 6RN

Equine Day

Entering Woodland Grange, with its pleasant welcoming staff and comfortable, modern interior, held promise of an exciting 2 days ahead. Warmed with a hot drink and clutching a smart new blue folder we took our seats inside a well lit and airy seminar room.

The course notes were excellent and allowed me to put my pen down and immediately focus on the first speaker, Danny Kendle, BHSAI Army Instructor, who opened the Seminar with an informative talk about the Driven Horse.  As Head Coachman of the Household Cavalry, he took us through a typical training regime for the Driven horse. We were informed that 90% of injuries in the driven horse occurred as a result of ill-fitting harnesses. Through slides we were shown the different types of carriages and equipment and the most common types of injury associated with their use. We were given the opportunity to look at and handle some of the collars in use.

Dr Sebastian McBride BSc PhD took us to coffee time with an extremely interesting talk on Equine Stereotypy. Dr McBride has recently taken up a post as Research Fellow in the Royal Agricultural College and is actively engaged in researching abnormal equine behaviour and equine learning. Previous hypotheses have now been given more proven scientific support and Dr McBride presented many of the studies on stereotypic behaviours. He illustrated his talk beautifully by the use of video footage and photographs, showing how stereotypy occurs when an animal is unable to remove itself from a stressful situation. He also looked into studies linking crib biting with digestive disorders. His lecture certainly gave us all “ food for thought”.

Coffee break enabled us to browse the excellent trade stands. The added incentive of a raffle, to win prizes donated by the exhibitors, was guaranteed to make one take extra interest in the goods on offer!!! The exhibitors were all very informative and the fact that the room was constantly buzzing with ACPAT members, illustrated the interest attracted by the various companies.

Many thanks to Balens Insurance, Equisea Ltd, Equissage, Game Ready Equine, Magnet Medics FMBS, MasterMedica Ltd, and Sue Carson Saddles. 

With special thanks to Simon Francis from SKF Services Ltd who sponsored our Seminar.

Refreshed, we settled down to absorb, Dr Narelle Stubbs B.appSc (PT) M.AnimSt (Animal Physiotherapy) PhD, inspiring lecture on the Structure and Function of the Equine Back. Dr Stubbs presented a review of the recent advances in research related to Structure and Function of the Equine Back, including neuromotor control, anatomy, biomechanics and function of the equine epaxial muscles. We were encouraged that ultrasonography has been proven to be a valuable tool to detect back pain, which leads on to the exciting prospect of a more accurate measurement in the future of physiotherapeutic intervention in the recovery of epaxial muscle function following pain.

The AGM took us up to an excellent lunch followed by another opportunity to visit the trade stands.

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