A significant proportion of equine vets will, at some point in their career, end up unconscious or hospitalised following an injury directly related to their work, says the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) and the journal Equine Veterinary Education has just published research to back this up.
The paper has highlighted that an equine vet may expect to sustain between seven and eight work-related injuries that impede them from practicing, during a 30-year working life. This is a far higher figure than other civilian occupations such as the construction industry, prison service and the fire brigade. Bruising, fracture and laceration to the leg or the head were the most common injuries reported with the main cause being a kick with a hind limb. Nearly a quarter of these reported injuries required hospital admission and 7% resulted in loss of consciousness.
“Many accidents reportedly occur when vets are trying to work with horses that have learned to avoid examination or treatment and where handlers are not in full control” says David Mountford, CEO at BEVA.
To help address this serious issue BEVA has just launched a campaign called Don’t Break Your Vet to encourage horse owners to help reduce the risks that vets sometimes face.
The Don’t Break Your Vet week comprises of a series of seven short video tutorials featuring vet and equine behaviourist Gemma Pearson. The videos provide quick and simple techniques to help horse owners prepare their horses to be quiet, relaxed and safe for veterinary, and other procedures, including clipping and giving oral medication such as wormers.
Gemma’s videos show how a little preparation can have a big impact on horse, owner and vet safety and are some of the best we’ve seen
The seven practical videos cover how clients can train and prepare their horse for:
• Easy injections
• Learning to stand still
• Calm clipping
• Leading and trotting up
• Happy Heads
• Clicker Training
• Worry-Free Worming
Let’s start with Easy Injections ...... and don’t forget, be patient, don't become a patient!
