Yes, I know the last blog was my 14th
but I did have 2 weeks off from BEVA things over the Xmas and New Year period
and therefore no blog was forthcoming! 2
weeks off, except of course for the continuous influx into my Inbox; although
it was reduced to about 30 a day. But
sadly not 2 weeks off from the practice and the Xmas & New Year Rota, which
included the first Point-to-Point fixture in the area for the 2014/2015 season.
New Year and new resolutions: to answer
emails by return and not just let them sit in my Inbox, whilst I ponder them; to
only read texts, when I’m in a position to respond to them rather than read
them whilst I’m driving with the intention of responding when I’m stationary
and then I invariably forget.
The first edition of the year of the Horse
and Hound included an article on the hopes of a number of vets, including
myself. I’m surprised that there hasn’t
been more fallout from my concerns about some rider’s weight compromising their
horse’s welfare.
It was straight back into it at the start
of the week with a trip down to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) headquarters
in London on Tuesday for a meeting of the Veterinary Committee. The implementation of their Anabolic Steroid
Policy has been delayed until March 2015 because of the difficulty in defining
who is deemed to be the “responsible person” either prior to a horse entering
training or during those periods of time when the horse is “out of
training”. No further information was
available at the time of the meeting but it is hoped that these loose ends will
be tied up by February after further consultation with the National Trainers
Federation (NTF) and the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) …watch this space.
I tabled a paper about equine dental
procedures being performed on BHA licensed premises. This is part of our ongoing campaign to
inform all horse owners / trainers / carers about the legislation surrounding
“the horse’s mouth”. One of the things,
which has become apparent to us over the last few months both from the BEVA
e-Survey of our members and the survey, which we undertook for the Review of
the Minor Procedures Regime (RMPR) board on Equine Dental Care is the
surprising amount of ignorance about and understanding of the subject. The RMPR survey included dental care
providers, including vets, and horse-owners.
BEVA has been trying to promote the
regulation of “horse dentists and dentistry” for years in order to protect
animal welfare. Achieving this goal is
currently being hampered by the fact that anything other than Category 1 dental procedures are considered to be acts
of veterinary surgery. However, we are still
condoning / supporting the practice of Category 2 procedures by “suitably
qualified” non-vets. This is an anomaly and
until there is an exemption order in place, which we are working on with DEFRA,
it will remain theoretically illegal for non-vets, suitably qualified or not,
to perform Category 2 procedures.
However, in the meantime, I think that we should recommend that only
“suitably qualified” dental technicians should be performing any (Category 1 or
Category 2) procedure in a horse’s mouth.
I think we’ve all seen the results of the damage that a non-qualified
individual can do using a set of rasps, albeit legally - whose idea was it for
unqualified people to be allowed to rasp sharp enamel points anyway?
At the meeting I requested that the BHA
take a lead on this and recommend that only suitably qualified EDT’s or vets be
undertaking any form of equine dentistry on BHA licensed premises. Obviously it will be difficult to implement
this with immediate effect but I suggested that those individuals working on
BHA premises who are not qualified are allowed a period of maybe a couple of
years to gain suitable qualifications in order to retain the work.
I have a meeting with DEFRA next week to
discuss the RMPR survey where I hope we can progress the subject of equine
dentistry further.
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