EQUINE | News
Grove Veterinary Surgery. Dr Bladon regaled the dele-
gates with infections charm and wit and discussed how
equine surgery has progressed and steps and protocols
that he has put in place in his own practices which have
had a huge success in increasing his practices surgery
success rate. With Dr Bladon being such a huge English
rugby fan and always quick to bring up South Africa’s
rugby mishaps, the SAEVA YMG had a little surprise in
store for him with a “tribute” video created by McGregor
Stone highlighting some of England rugby’s “best mo-
ments” that they perhaps would prefer to forget.
Next up was Dr Joe Pagan of Kentucky Equine Research
presented on equine nutrition and how we should be
feeding the modern sport horse. Nutrition is a topic that
is often approached with caution by veterinarians due
to it not being covered in good detail during vet school
so this talk was received by many. He emphasised the
horse ability to utilize fat as a source of energy and how
it an ideal energy source in hot horses as well as those
who suffer from recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis
or polysaccharide storage myopathy. After lunch, Prof
James Gilkerson of the University of Melbourne viewed
infectious diseases and how our approach to these con-
ditions has changed.
The day was capped off with a traditional South African
braai of boerwors, chops and pap en sous to name just a
few of the delicious items available.
Thursday arrived and with it the last day of the congress.
Unfortunately, mother nature decided that the perfect
way to end off things was with torrential rains on and
off during the day. However, the weather did not damp
spirits and with speakers like Prof Derek Knottenbelt
and Dr Steve O’Grady on the line up we were set for
some high-quality talks. Prof Knottenbelt, of the Univer-
sity of Glasgow, was a reverting review of some of the
myths we have in equine veterinary science and looked
at what is true and what is not. Of particular focus was
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