Tackling Equine Obesity Afternoon With The National Equine Welfare Council

Friday 12 April 2024, 1pm-4pm

Exhibition Hall, Stirling Agricultural Centre, Stirling, FK9 4RN

All welcome at this FREE afternoon session exploring one of the biggest equine health and welfare challenges facing horse owners in Scotland today.  We will have some of the top experts in the field helping us to understand when equines are overweight and some of the associated risks. The afternoon will also include a Condition Scoring Challenge so please bring your own clipboard.

NEWC is the umbrella organisation that supports members throughout the UK which include equine welfare charities, organisations and veterinary sectors to achieve a better quality of life for all equines.

Some of our experts on the day will be:

Tamzin Furtado
Tamzin is a lecturer at University of Liverpool, where she brings an understanding of human behaviour and psychology to animal health and welfare issues. She completed her PhD on the human behavioural drivers around equine obesity in the UK, and has since worked extensively with her partners at the Horse Trust to put in place interventions which will help us keep our horses healthy and well. Tamzin also looks after a very cute rescue pony, Bertie, who lives off fresh air, so she understands the challenges we all face with our good doers!

Dee Pollard
Dee is a Veterinary Epidemiologist interested in equine health and welfare topics, particularly the interaction between horses and humans. Dee completed a World Horse Welfare-funded PhD via the Royal Veterinary College while being based at the Animal Health Trust (AHT). The 4-year project involved working with both vets and owners to find out more about laminitis, namely what information vets use to diagnose it (the most common but also subtle signs of laminitis), how well owners recognise it, how frequently it occurred in a large group of horses over a 29 month period, the factors that contributed to those episodes and what can be done to help reduce the risk. One of the outcomes was that unintentional weight gain increased the risk of future laminitis episodes. Thus, laminitis prevention, weight management and working with horse owners became the focus of Dee’s post-doctoral work at the AHT. It also sparked an interest of looking at practical weight management from the horse’s perspective and using ways to help horses maintain a healthy weight while having as little impact on their overall wellbeing as possible. Dee currently works at the British Horse Society where she is involved in a number of different projects (from the wellbeing of horses and equestrians to equestrian road safety) including working closely with the BHS Horse Care & Welfare team. Dee also collaborates with external researchers (such as Tamzin!) and veterinary surgeons to consult on data analysis and statistical methods. She owns 3 horses and understands the practical challenges that weight management can present.

Programme (subject to change):

At check out you will be asked to give your consent for your photographs and video footage to be used by The British Horse Society in printed, online or electronic publications, which may be shared publicly. Examples of these materials include, but are not limited to: posters, leaflets, brochures, adverts, emails, e-newsletters, blogs, web pages, social media posts, presentations, speeches, research or policy reports and press releases or other materials.