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EQUINE MATTERS
HEALTHCARE CL INI C
Veterinary surgeon
Julian Samuelson
Veterinary practice
Bell Equine Veterinary
Clinic
BEVA Trust and BHS castration and healthcare clinics
Julian Samuelson MA VetMB MBA MRCVS,
Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic, Kent
After a strategic review in 2014, BEVA Trust, the charitable wing of the British Equine Veterinary
Association, has set about reinventing itself and embarked on an ambitious project to facilitate
and coordinate BEVA members’ willingness to donate their professional veterinary services towards
philanthropic causes
.
The Trust is keen to offer its services to UK
and overseas projects, and subjects each
proposal to a rigorous assessment. The BHS
castration and healthcare scheme is a UK
based project that the Trust has partnered.
So far clinics have been held in
Southampton, Bristol, St Albans, Bradford,
Northampton and Tipton, with more to
follow later in the year.
By partnering with other charities including,
World Horse Welfare, Redwings and the
RSPCA, the aim is to reach a population that
would otherwise remain out of contact
with mainstream veterinary care. Local
field agents, using their extensive local
knowledge and contacts invite cases to
attend each clinic.
All horses and ponies are given a general
healthcare check, issued with a passport
and microchipped, wormed and given
tetanus vaccination, and general husbandry
advice is offered where required.
A large number also require castration. As
most of the cases are mature adults, they are
generally castrated while remaining standing,
but after sedation and local anaesthesia has
been administered. A small number are
anaesthetised, usually if they are either too
small to reach under, or one or both of the
testicles are difficult to grab, or they are
simply too wild to adequately sedate.
Each case is assessed before being
discharged, but generally perioperative
antibiotics and analgesia are given only.
For each clinic, a local equine referral centre
is contacted to make arrangements for any
acute (immediate) care in the event of any
complications on the day, and arrangements
with other local equine practices are similarly
put in place for any follow up care required
over the following days.
Although castration is a routine procedure,
it should not be underestimated and the
complications that can ensue are well
documented. To date, well over 100 horses
and ponies have been castrated at these
clinics, and the complication rate has, if
anything, been less than expected.
Having participated at most of the clinics
and seen first-hand the characteristics of the
patients and clients coming forward, it is
clear that the filtering process has for the
most part worked very well. At the end of
each session, there is an overwhelming
feeling of achievement and satisfaction felt
by all the volunteers, of a job well done,
and having made a difference, albeit just
one small step - although, as the Chinese
philosopher Lao Tzu said,
”the journey of
1,000 miles begins with one step...”
.
Southampton
St Albans
Bradford
Southampton