EQUINE | Annual Report
EQUINE | Annual Report
The communications committee got a new chairman in Johnny Cave . Tremendous work has been achieved with the EHU . The Facebook page as well as the website and the finalization of the agreement with BEVA . The welfare committee lead by a very capable Caryn Rademeyer has been very proactive . Caryn is also on the SAVA welfare committee . Welfare is becoming extremely important in the sports horse , race horse and endurance horse disciplines . The challenges will become greater each year and extremely important for SAEVA and the Equine .
The sports horse committee lead by Sheelagh Higgerty has performed very well in the light of many upheavals within the sporting bodies . This remains a huge challenge for SAEVA to influence the sporting disciplines of SAEF to comply with accepted equine welfare principles and traceability issues . The disease reporting and state liaison committee have again been working very hard in their role in movement control , disease reporting and export / import advice and research . Bev Parker , with the assistance of John Grewar and Camilla Weyer have done excellent work .
Disease reporting has become very important . The education of all equine veterinarians as well as mixed practitioners is a focus of SAEVA through support of local SAVA congresses with improved equine content .
Medicines committee under the steady guidance of Glynn Catton has again been very involved with regulation changes as well as transgressions within the industry . All these matters potentially will affect the way we practice in the future . With Glynn being on the Medco of SAVA and David Gerber being coopted on to the Board of SAVA , I see an even improved effectiveness of this committee going forward .
Racing committee has had a reasonably quiet year and main focus has been on welfare in the form of second career assessments for horses retiring from racing . Meetings are well structured and the RSC is a well respected body in the racing fraternity .
As chairman of the RSC , I will be stepping down as of February 2018 . I do feel that much has been achieved and the time is right for the younger members to lead this committee . Procedures and Policies lead by Martin Denkhaus and Carla Langley is also a very important committee . The terms of reference where not clearly set out by myself . This is a point on the exec agenda to debate and restructure the committee more effectively . My thinking is to divide the committee into a ‘ technical ’ and ‘ procedure ’ portion to make it more focused and then the technical committee to support the President in all technical related queries .
Stud Health Committee has been relatively quiet but some important information by Martin Schulman regarding CEM and other disease protocols . YMG has been excellent under the new leadership of Inone Vorster and with such a comprehensive report on their multitude of events it is a MUST read . The mentorship program will be in its 3rd year this year . The challenge is to keep the communications going between students and mentors .
The challenges at the equine department in Onderstepoort have been that there was a serious lack of staff and lecturers in this department . This resulted in a decline in the number of equine students and a great concern for the equine profession .
With the increasing involvement of SAEVA president in SAVA matters I would like to sketch a short list of our responsibilities to SAVA and the veterinary profession as a whole .
• SAEVA is now represented on the board of SAVA and SAVETCON .
• SAEVA president is on the Fedco of SAVA as well as the Remuneration Committee and the Disaster Management committee .
• Other members of SAEVA who are on SAVA
• Volume 20 Issue 1 | April 2018 • 27