Equine Health Update EHU 2019 Issue 04 | Page 4

Chairman’s Report Terry Casey Chairman SA Equine Veterinary Association Cell: 083 327 0237 And so we come to a start of another year. I think we all agree that 2019 was a tough year. I am expecting 2020 to be just as tough. 2019 did however have its highlights. For me winning the Rugby World Cup for a third time was probably the highlight. Go Bokke. This will be my last article as Chairman of SAEVA. As of the next congress in February Angela Rogers takes over as Chairman. Let me first say “ thanks” to all of my committee for the last two years . As Chairman you really cannot do the job without the help of your committee. I am looking forward to serving as outgoing chairman under Angela. May SAEVA progress from strength to strength. I would like to use this opportunity to highlight some of the committee’s accomplishments in the last two years. One of the goals of each committee that I have served on is to provide CPD opportunities for our members and for the greater veterinary profession. To this end we have provided two annual congresses. Umhlanga 2019 and Port Elizabeth 2018 were both great congresses with world class speakers. Planning is well under way for Congress 2020. For those of you that don’t know it will be in Skukuza again from the 19 th to the 23 rd of February 2020. The speakers are Evita Busschers (Sports Medicine), Pamela Wilkins (Eq Int. Medicine), Lynette Bester (Anaesthesiology) and Nicole Du Toit (Dentistry). There will also be numerous other topics. One I am especially looking 4 forward to is a panel discussion about the “do’s and dont’s of equine insurance”. If you have not done your registration yet, please do it ASAP. I know that accommodation is limited at Skukuza. We always try and organize congresses two years in advance, so we have almost secured the speakers for 2021. As always they are two world class speakers, but I will leave it to Angela to confirm in the next Chairman’s newsletter. Just a hint - they are a husband and wife team of world renown. This last year we tried something new for the first time. As a group we took out a membership of Vetstream. This is an online veterinary encyclopedia. Up to now about a third of the SAEVA members have registered. This registration was taken out on a years trial basis. Any feedback would be most appreciated so as to whether or not to continue with it. Please utilise this opportunity to sign up. In 2018 SAEVA actively promoted the use of the ECOD system at various regional congresses. ECOD as you all know, is the online disease reporting programme for equines. This system seems to be up and running efficiently at the moment, but once again, will everyone that hasn’t signed up do so and please remember to do the reporting. Even if it is the practice receptionist that is taught how to do it. • Equine Health Update •