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9
EQUINE MATTERS
AN EQUINE SURGEON
A
'week in the life'
of
an equine surgeon...
Cedric Chan, BVSc CertES(Orth) DiplECVS MRCVS
NW Equine Referrals
www.nwequinereferrals.com
Other than your routine
daily veterinary work what
other veterinary work are
you involved with?
I have been privileged to work as a
competition treating vet at the two most recent
Olympic Games: Athens 2004 and Beijing
2008. I was the Chief Equine Surgeon at
the recent Asian Games in Guangzhou,
China 2010, the first FEI world class
equestrian competition in dressage,
showjumping and eventing on the Chinese
mainland. I have been nominated as Chief
Equine Surgeon for the next SE Asian
Games in Singapore 2014.
I am proactive in the education of vets,
nurses, para-professionals and clients, having
organised and lectured on many courses
and lectured by invitation at many meetings
both in the UK and abroad. I act as a
post-graduate Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons examiner and an advisor for vets
undertaking examinations in Equine Surgery
(Chief Examiner 2011) and Equine Practice.
I have also published many articles in several
veterinary journals and books.
Are you involved in the London
2012 Games? What will your
role be?
I am honoured to have been invited to work
as a team vet with the Singapore Paralympic
Dressage team which is a new challenge for
me. They won Bronze at Beijing in 2008, so
there is a lot of expectation.
Have you always been
interested in horses and do
you ride?
When I started vet school at Bristol in 1984
my sole aim was to work with zoo animals
and I spent many a summer holiday working
at London and Bristol zoos.
My interest in horses and in particular equine
surgery was inspired after seeing practice in
Newmarket as a 3rd year vet student, and
the rest is history as they say!
I do ride but I am best described as a 'fair
weather' rider occasionally riding friends'
horses for fun or trying to learn polo. The last
time I rode was on a Mongolian pony on the
Mongolian grasslands last year.
Cedric Chan, BVSc CertES(Orth)
DiplECVS MRCVS
of NW Equine
Referrals is an RCVS & European
Recognised Specialist in Equine
Surgery based in London.
His role as a travelling consultant equine
surgeon takes him to equine practices
all over the UK and also abroad to
France and more recently to South East
Asia and mainland China. He has over
twenty years of surgical experience
gained from thousands of cases and
provides 'State-of-the-Art' surgical
equipment. Since the consultancy was
set up in 2002 he has worked with
several of the XLVets Equine member
practices including Alnorthumbria,
Cliffe, Fenwold, Minster, Paragon,
Scarsdale, Scott Mitchell, Willows
and Wright & Morten.
We talk to Cedric and share some of
the experiences in ‘a week in his life.’
What is involved in working
as a travelling consultant
Equine Surgeon?
I visit multiple practices on an appointment
only basis both regularly or occasionally
throughout the year providing mainly elective
diagnostic and surgical services. The
majority of the work is advanced lameness
examinations and surgeries including
arthroscopy (key-hole joint surgery), chronic
joint infection management, complex wound
reconstruction, fracture repair, upper airway
surgery, sinus problems and laparoscopy
(key-hole abdominal surgery).
Cedric at the Asian Games, 2010
Cedric riding in Mongolia