After day of multiple vet visits for a variety of horses (more on this another day!) it was off to The Hub in Verwood to listen to...vet, Bruce Bladon, from Donnington Grove, talking about making surgery safer for horses and also his experiences as a vet at The Rio Olympics. Like all vets he showed off some horribly gory pictures, but the underlying message was just how much safer surgery on horses has become since so much of it is performed with the horses standing up, sedated rather than under general anaesthetic, and even then different drugs make that a lot less risky. I think I would feel far more optimistic about surgery having heard his talk.
As with all preparation and rehearsal of emergency situations, at the Olympics it was much better for the vets to be there and not needed, than not there and needed. It was really interesting to see behind the scenes at the equestrian venue where all of the horses, including the dressage horses, were walked through a cooling mist, and ministered to the instant anything was wrong. There was a purpose built veterinary surgery for the event so that horses were always within an exclusion area, deemed to be 'not Brazil'.
