Having spent several days visiting colleagues and friends at The University of Edinburgh Royal (Dick) Equine Hospital and Three Counties Equine Hospital in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire my month long eventing adventure around the United Kingdom started at Burghley Horse trials. WOW – what a place! After 4 visits to Badminton (2 as a spectator, 2 as a vet) I had high expectations, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Cross country was big and unrelenting, Burghley House is simply magnificent and the event facilities were great. But above all what I struck me the most about Burghley was the welcoming, inclusive and relaxed atmosphere. Everyone from the stables manger to the stewards, the ground jury, organising committee and vet team were all so friendly, laid back and easy to get along with. It was such a contrast to Badminton. Don’t get me wrong, I love Badminton – it’s an amazing place, but you do get the feeling at times that if you’re not the 17th generation of a posh hunting family, or you can’t remember a time when Her Majesty wasn’t the Queen, then you don’t really belong at Badminton…
Burghley truly is 4* eventing at its very best!
Huge!
My role at Burghley was to assist our British based and Head Australian Equestrian team vet Dr Graham Potts MRCVS. I’ve been lucky enough to have known “Pottsie” for several years and was very excited to be helping him at my first trip to Burghley. A long time ago Pottsie taught me that eventing is not simply a 3 phase sport, it’s very much 5 phases; the first horse inspection, dressage, cross country, the second horse inspection and finally show jumping. The role of a team vet at a competition is to provide veterinary care and advice to team riders and horses so they together can achieve the best results possible.
Pottsie has been with the Australian Equestrian team since prior to the Sydney 2000 Olympics and has a wealth of team veterinary experience. As relatively young eventing veterinarian it’s an amazing privilege to be given the opportunity to work alongside and learn from the likes of Pottsie – no amount of book learning, time spent in a hospital or fancy letters at the end of your name can replace years of first-hand experience of managing elite equine athletes through major 3 day events. The ability to help these horses overcome the rigours of a strenuous cross country, recuperate overnight, be sound enough to pass the trot up and be fit enough to successfully show jump is a unique veterinary skill.
Pottsie
Burghley was the biggest, most challenging and utmost unrelenting cross country course I’ve ever seen. Having walked it I was expecting to see a lot of tired horses in the finishing box. During cross country my job was to help Pottsie monitor the recovery of the Australian horses and help the grooms cool them down. I had a fantastic day in the finish box spending most of it with bucket in hand sponging ice water onto some of the world’s best eventing horses. Despite the extremely challenging course all Australian horses that finished cross country recovered well and made it safely back to their stables.
It’s after cross country that the role of a team vet really comes into its own – checking for and assessing any injuries that may have occurred during cross country, making plans for treatment and monitoring recovery, trotting up to see how they are moving, advising riders and grooms on plans for their horses for the rest of the night and in the morning – the list goes on and on. Thankfully all 9 Australian horses that completed cross country passed the final horse inspection and went onto showjumping in the afternoon. Unfortunately I only got to see half of the team jump as I had to leave early in order to be at Blair Castle up in Scotland for my next veterinary appointment.
The leaf pit jump - it's a long way down (left) and the sun always shines at Burghley!
Remember me talking about the importance of 'Water on, water off'?
The highlight of my time at Burghley came during the long walk from the stables to the trot-up strip in the main arena. A British rider trots by on her horse and says
“Hey Chris, what magic stuff do you have in that vet bag of yours that we don’t have? Surely there’s something in there… how else is it possible that you can keep your horses so sound when we are having so much bother?”
She then instructs the British team vet to open my bag and inspect the contents. I of course happily oblige
“Well that’s boring isn’t it…” says the team vet “there’s only cotton wool and vetwrap in here”
I’d like to take that as a big win for team Australia - our sound horses have got the British spooked!
Blair Castle Horse Trials at the foot of the Highlands in Scotland will always hold a special place in my heart. The vet team are fantastic, the location is stunning, the organising committee are lovely and it’s a place where I can easily track the progression of my eventing veterinary career. In my first year I was an assistant vet in a sector on cross country, I was then given a cross country sector to myself, then given a larger and more complex sector for the Young Rider European Championships, followed by being associate veterinary delegate and holding box veterinarian. I was then appointed to my most senior FEI role to date as a member of the Veterinary Commission and holding box veterinarian at the Longines 2015 European Eventing Championships.
Arriving at Blair on Monday morning I was the most nervous I have ever been prior to an event, but thankfully the familiar face of Alasdair Ryder, the vet services manager who over the years had shown so much faith and instilled so much confidence in me, my mind was instantly at ease and it was just like another Blair Castle – Same Same but Different – but this time instead of looking after 300+ horses, it was only 60 odd. But not just any 60 odd horses; 60 of the best event horses in all of Europe!
Opening ceremony at the Castle (left) and inside the Great Hall of the Castle
As a member of the veterinary commission I had several roles during the Championships – my first task along with the treating vet was to check all the horses on arrival by conducting a brief clinical examination to ensure that the horses have travelled OK and they are not carrying any infectious disease as well as checking their Equine Influenza vaccination status is up to date. Being the only member of the commission to have vetted at Blair previously I was the “local knowledge” linking the FEI appointed veterinary commission and the rest of the Blair Castle veterinary team, especially in regards to working with the Veterinary Services Manager in the provision of veterinary cover on cross country day.
I was also responsible for the finishing area after cross country. This is a role that I enjoy as the finish box is a place where the FEI vet is usually quite busy taking heart rates and temperatures and monitoring recoveries. At a Championship such as the Europeans the role of the FEI vet is less hands on as the majority of teams have their own vet. Despite the challenging nature of the course design, terrain and persistent rain all horse recovered extremely well and there were only a couple of minor cuts and scrapes. Our vet team had a very quiet cross country day, which is always good.
British and German team vets enjoying the Scottish sunshine (left) and the haggis jump that caused dramas on cross country day after the rain and mud set in
At Blair Castle I talked to Debbie Higgs about the particular challenges of the cross country course from a vet's point of view which you can listen to here
My last and arguably most important (and exciting) role was to be the holding box veterinarian. I very much enjoy the challenge and pressure of being the holding box veterinarian – having to examine a horse in a limited period of time and with a limited scope of examination tools (hoof testers and your hands only) so as to assess the horses “fitness to compete”. At a Championship such as the Europeans I also like the “gamesmanship” of some team veterinarians and the interplay between you and them during the examination prior to discussing your findings with the Inspection Panel. It’s important to remember that the trot-up is an assessment of “fitness to compete”, not a lameness examination to the level of a pre-purchase examination. During my examination I am trying to determine if the reason for the horse being sent to hold is likely to adversely affect the horses’ ability to continue in the competition, and if it was to continue is the problem likely to get worse. Above all else the role of all FEI veterinarians, especially the Veterinary Delegate on the Inspection Panel and the Holding Box veterinarian is to ensure the welfare of the horse. That’s the fundamental purpose of the trot-up.
At Blair the holding box procedure worked smoothly, the inspection panel were easy to communicate with, understanding and respectful of my findings. My time in the hold box at Blair was a challenge but very enjoyable, and considering that was my first Championships in Hold, I think it went quite well.
The Inspection Panel of Foreign Veterinary Delegate Yves Rossie (Canada) and the Ground Jury (above) and discussion of my findings from the Hold Box (below)
After an epic 9hr drive from Blair I arrived at the next stop on my UK trip – Newmarket, in the early hours of Monday morning. I spent the next two weeks at Rossdales Equine Hospital, one of the biggest and busiest equine hospitals in the UK, training with their standing MRI machine.
In the middle weekend of my time in Newmarket I again found myself in waterproof trousers and wellies cooling down and monitoring Australian event horses, this time at Blenheim Palace. I had heard so much about how lovely Blenheim is, and like Burghley – it didn’t disappoint. In beautiful British sunshine I helped Pottsie look after the 7 Australian horses amongst the 101 3* entries. Yes, that’s right, 101 in the 3* - the scale of British eventing is simply amazing. It was once again a great experience working alongside Pottsie and as always his wise words of advice were well received.
More water buckets - this time cooling down Kevin McNab's Dustman at Blenheim
It’s now time to head home to Sydney and get right back into the thick of it at Randwick. Very much looking forward to Canberra ODE, Adelaide International and the first CIC to be held at Wallaby Hill.
Until next time, ride safely out there – make you and your horse come home in one piece.
Chris
