Posted: 7th May 2015 | Back to news feed
The fifth Alltech-Hartpury Equine Student Conference took place on the 22nd April 2015 at Hartpury College, Gloucester.
This annual conference is aimed solely at higher education students, providing an opportunity to experience writing and submitting an abstract, through to delivering a theatre presentation to a full conference audience.
Often a daunting experience, the Alltech-Hartpury Student Conference allows students to present to fellow students, without additional intimidation from experts and supervisors.
Around 100 delegates attended representing more than eight colleges and universities from the UK and France, with 13 theatre presentations and over 15 poster presentations on offer covering a vast range of topics, including preliminary work in to the incidence of nocturnal sleep behaviour of horses on performance, and the influence of position within a race, and on the track for catastrophic fractures in racehorses.
The morning session was chaired by Dr Rachel Murray from the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, this focussed on the incidence, prevalence and management of equestrian injuries, with a very interesting keynote presentation from Dr Sue Dyson who gave a fascinating insight into the prevalence of suspensory ligament injuries in dressage horses.
This was followed by presentations from students from Hartpury College, Oxford Brookes University, Sparsholt College and Myerscough College.
The afternoon session, chaired by Dr Sue Dyson, focussed on strategies for prehabilitation and rehabilitation of the equestrian athlete, with Dr Rachel Murray opening the afternoon session with a talk on the prevention of injury in sports horses.
Students’ presentations filled the remaining time in the afternoon session with students from Sparsholt College, Aberystwyth University and Hartpury College discussing topics, including the laterality of semi-feral New Forest ponies, the influence of joint supplements on stride parameters in the horse and the influence of increased workload on hoof conformation in shod and unshod horses.
The standard of presentations from the students was high and they were rewarded with engaging discussion from both the student delegates and the keynote speakers with whom they were able to network over coffee breaks and lunch.
International rider and equestrian coach, Warren Lamperd, presented the closing address giving the audience a humorous and interactive insight into his career and his thoughts on the requirements of the equestrian coaching industry.
Posters on topics, such as the ingestive behaviour of three novel forages in horses, the effects of an oral glucosamine sulphate and MSM complex on limb kinematics of sound horses and osteopathic effect on back kinematics of horses in walk were displayed throughout the day.
Prizes for the best student theatre and poster presentations were awarded at the close of the conference by Warren Lamperd.
The prize for best theatre presentation went to Katie Grimwood from Oxford Brookes University, for her talk on ‘The Mineral Intake of Horses used for Leisure Purposes in the UK’.
Best poster went to Imogen de Lavis from the Royal Agricultural University for her study entitled ‘A histological study of G-cell Concentrations in the Fundic and Pyloric Regions of the Equine Stomach: A Pilot Study’.
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