The latest practical capabilities course for IVC Evidensia Equine vets took place in February 2023 at Twemlow Farm in Shropshire, providing an ideal opportunity for young vets to hone the techniques required to thrive in an Equine practice.
The course was run by a team of IVC Evidensia equine vets from across the country led by Medicine Specialists Gayle Hallowell and Luanne Hunt, with Stud Medicine vet John Spencer from Frynwy Equine, and Graham Hunter and Mark Tabachnik taking the equine orthopedics and dentistry elements.
The course started with a no-holds barred discussion of mistakes made in practice, which was a stripped-down learning method with no PowerPoint allowed, just an honest discussion of years in equine practice. Learning from mistakes is powerful as it allowed the group to reflect on their own experiences and to consider all these moments as learning opportunities.
This was followed by videos of lameness and some dental case discussions. Learning through cases that had gone well and badly, formulating plans and creating better ways to deal with common clinical presentations, such as dental tooth root abscesses and dealing with diastemata.
The day finished with a guest appearance from Mark Bowen, who spoke about the drugs cascade and how vets can understand its practical applications to help decision making in choosing the right medications to prescribe their patients.
Day Two was a wholly practical day and consisted of delegates moving through a number of stations. Gayle Hallowell took them through practical heart auscultation and ophthalmology, John Spencer had them scanning mares, allowing them to perform routine uterine and ovarian scanning examinations, and Luanne Hunt upskilled them on respiratory techniques.
The delegates got to practice tracheal wash and bronchoalveolar lavage while Graham Hunter had the vets scanning horse limbs with a focus on tendon and joint pathology and practicing nerve and joint blocks on cadavers. Mark Tabachnik ran a further station on oral examination, with a focus on dental pathology, treatment plans and basic extraction techniques for wobbly teeth.
The final day finished with a demonstration from Stallion AI services of a semen collection and a tour of the laboratory facilities.
Mark Tabachnik, Clinical Director at IVC Evidensia, commented on the format of the two-day course:
“This is a great way to learn – hands on, thinking and talking cases, rather than passively through power point.
“We got young vets upskilling themselves in front of our eyes, performing techniques in a mentored safe environment where they could practice practical skills until they felt competent.
“A real highlight was the discussion about making mistakes, being an equine vet can be tough lonely work, creating a psychological safe space for vets to learn from their and others’ mistakes is going to make us all more resilient.”
The team were incredibly grateful for the generous sponsorship from BOVA that allowed this course to happen.
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