SAEVA 2020 Speech | EQUINE
a beer?”. His eyes lit up, I got the big smile and I said, “you have two hands, take two”, “What about you?” he says.
“l’ve got two hands too” I said, showing him the two bottles in my left hand. “l knew I liked you for a good reason. Sit
down and let’s have a good chat!”
I only met Dave a handful of times over the years, but they were invariably good times, and I often think about
him - how he liked to meet new people and learn new things. I think these are the qualities that help us deal with
the constant change in our lives and it is the example of people like him that can guide us as we navigate changes.
Because change is inevitable.
I think that one of the reasons I really like coming to SAEVA is because of how you guys deal with change so well,
apparently effortlessly, with a real “can do” attitude. And no one is more “can-do” than Johan. Johan Marais was a
successful academic and specialist surgeon, but upon seeing a need to help injured wildlife he didn’t just sit back
passively and wish someone would help them - he helped them and so came about Saving the Survivors.
l love this organisation; not just because of Johan’s obvious passion for his work, not just because of the truly
amazing work he does and the care he and his team bring to injured rhino, but because of the support he receives
from you guys. Creating hope from hurt - how cool is that? For me, that sums up all of the good things that being a
vet can be, and distils it into one phrase.
But it is not only Johan that I respect here. I look with considerable admiration at the work that people like Bev
Parker and John Grewar do to support the horse industry here in South Africa, and I marvel at their determination
and perseverance. These guys deal with change all of the time - changing international regulations surrounding
horse movements, changing levels of regulation about internal disease control measures and the current rapid
changes occurring in the South African TB industry. And no talk about change would be complete without a quick
shout out to Alan. Talk about embracing change! Alan started his career as an exercise physiologist, but thankfully
for the rest of us, saw the light and moved into infectious disease research... and in doing so revolutionised AHS
vaccine technology and diagnostics and drove our understanding of this horrible disease (and quite a few others -
CEM, EVA etc. ) into the 21 st Century. The fact that we are even talking about transporting horses from South Africa
to Australia is only possible because of the work that Alan, Camilla and the team at ERC have done.
ln writing this talk I realised that my life would have been very different if I didn’t belong to our profession. Being a
vet has enabled me to travel to many countries and meet some amazing people. lf you had asked the 18 year old me
as I got on the train to travel to Sydney to start vet school where I thought vet science would take me, I would have
told you I want to be a cattle vet in Gloucester (the little country town where I grew up). As it turns out, vet science
has taken me the world (Europe, North and South America, various countries in Asia, weird and wonderful places
like Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan and lceland, and most importantly to Africa).
I think as vets we deal with change all of the time, but there is no doubt that change is difficult to manage. As I get
older I feel less and less in control of my destiny and more and more that change is happening too quickly and is out
• Volume 22 Issue 01 | March 2020 •
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