Don’t miss your chance to nominate an exceptional individual or organisation within the equine sector, for the National Equine Forum (NEF) Sir Colin Spedding Award 2025. This prestigious award champions the cause of those who strive to make difference in the horse world but are, as yet, unacknowledged. Nominations can be made quickly and easily online. Sir Colin Spedding was the founding chairman of the NEF and chaired the event for 20 years until his death in 2012. He ensured that represe

How can we help equine clients to manage their land more ecologically? A case study from Ash Rescue Centre, Dartmouth. At last year’s World Horse Welfare Conference, Jenny Rogers, from Ash Rescue Centre, was invited to talk about their remarkable work. Ash is both a rescue centre for elderly horses and a conservation site, encompassing wildflower meadows, species-rich grasslands, hedgerows, native trees and wildlife ponds, with rescue horses playing a key role as conservation grazers. Jenn

It is widely accepted that our dietary choices have an impact on the environment, but how does this relate to the diet of our horses? The average 500 kg horse eats between 7.5 and 8 kg of hay per day, which equates to some 225 to 240 kg per month per horse. To produce it, a variety of grasses are grown in fields then cut, dried and bailed. Meadow hay is the most common type, consisting of a mix of plants from mature meadows including Timothy and dandelions. Other hays, differing in plant composi

Third year veterinary students, in collaboration with the BEVA Sustainability Working Group, are asking vets and owners to share their views on the use and environmental impact of equine anthelmintics in two surveys. Every response will help to understand the issue better, and each respondent will be entered into a prize draw to win a £10 Amazon voucher. Please spare five minutes to complete the survey and share the links below amongst colleagues and clients. Complete the vet survey Co

For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5oC over an entire 12 month period, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. This does not break the Paris Agreement 1.5oC limit – as that refers to long-term warming – but it “does bring the world closer to doing so”. It is considered by many to be a “significant milestone” that highlights the challenges of keeping the 1.5oC long-term limit in reach. The temperature rise in the past year

The new environmental sustainability module of the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme became effective on 1st of June 2023. The requirement for all practices to have a written environmental sustainability policy is now one of the core standards, meaning that all veterinary practices, whether they are part of the Practice Standards Scheme or not must comply with this requirement. So, what is an environmental sustainability policy? This is a document that recognises the environmental impact that a bus

BEVA Sustainability Group member Julia Shrubb discusses sustainability in equine wound management. Bandaging is often a key part to wound management and results in large volumes of waste. There are also significant environmental costs, using energy and resources, to produce, transport and dispose of bandaging materials. Many people do not stop to consider what happens to waste once it has been put in the bin. There are of course financial and environmental costs to disposing of anything. “

There are several options for the treatment of equine asthma, in addition to environmental modifications. Human metered dose inhalers (MDI) have been used in horses with equine asthma for many years, but many people are unaware of their surprisingly large carbon footprint. Pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDI), such as Ventolin or Clenil Modulite inhalers, contain hydroflourocarbon (HFC) propellants that are very powerful greenhouse gases. Inhalers containing chloroflourocarbon (CFC) propella

Although volatile anaesthetic agents (such as isoflurane and sevoflurane) are emitted in relatively low quantities into the environment, they are disproportionately effective greenhouse gases, owing to their ability to absorb infrared radiation within an atmospheric ‘cooling window’ in which absorption of radiation is normally minimal. In fact, one hour of equine anaesthesia (using sevoflurane) may be equivalent to driving up to 184 miles. Fortunately, a few simple changes to our equ