Vets get ready for the Games
On 25 and 26 November, the Organising Committee organised a seminar to bring together more than 70 veterinary surgeons who are involved in preparations for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy. It was a great opportunity to chat about various topics and prepare the vets who will be on duty during the two weeks of competition, from 23 August to 7 September next year.
The 70 vets present were all volunteers or officials from the FEI committee. Some foreign vets (from Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and the USA) involved in the FEI committee or in the administration for on-site veterinary areas, as well as the Alltech and Audevard laboratories, were also on hand to share their experience and remind us that the event will be seen by people from all over the world at all levels!
After half a day of presentations in the Crédit Agricole offices, and a half-day workshop to deal with more specific issues, these 70 important players made great progress on a variety of key subjects, in particular the veterinary workers that will be on duty during the event. Currently, 170 veterinary workers – 100 veterinary surgeons accompanied by 70 students – are set to be on site! They will work throughout the fortnight of competition for the FEI committees or on one-off tasks (during the cross-country phase of the Eventing, for example).
These 170 specialists will also be assisted by the CIRALE and the Frank Ducombe laboratory. The CIRALE, a centre for medical imaging dedicated to horses which is based in Goustranville (Calvados), will carry out any scans and/or x-rays. The Frank Duncombe laboratory, one of Europe’s largest laboratories dedicated to horses, will carry out any blood tests and biochemical analyses on the horses, both for regulatory reasons and in an emergency.
There were also discussions about the veterinary areas which will be set up on each site in order to treat the horses during the competition. After much consideration, it was decided that the horses would be transported to external clinics in the event of a serious problem.
