The British Horse Society (BHS) and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey have launched a new educational resource as part of the Stewart Hastie Veterinary Student Champion scheme, that aims to forge a link between veterinary students, horse owners/carers and the work of the BHS.
In a collaborative partnership, veterinary students at the University produced infographics on colic, one of the most common emergency equine vet call outs, to help provide advice and support to horse owners/carers on minimising risks of this painful and potentially severe condition.
The students were in with a chance of their entry being designed and used as an educational resource by the BHS. The BHS were delighted to have the support of two judges, Dr Jane Nixon BSc MA Vet MB MRCVS and Professor Sarah Freeman BVetMed PhD CertVA CertVR CertES ECVS FHEA FRCVS. The judges were both unanimous with the winning design created by Suzie Bedford, who created the acronym ‘FRESH’ to highlight the different steps horse owners can take to help prevent colic:
Forage
Routine
Exercise
Starch (how much and which horses are suitable)
Hydration
Dr Teresa Hollands, Senior Teaching Fellow (Veterinary Nutrition) at the University of Surrey said: “Colic is a complex, multifactorial disease and minimising risks through the correct feeding is key. The challenge for our vet students is to pull all the factors together to be able to explain them to clients. The BHS and University of Nottingham’s REACT Now to Beat Colic campaign inspired me to challenge our third year vet students to summarise the evidence base they had been taught for clients in the form of an infographic. The BHS very kindly supported our judges and provided a prize for the best infographic. I am so thrilled that Suzie won, and that the BHS, Jane and Sarah are supporting our students again this year”.
Delighted competition winner Suzie said: “Designing client-focussed infographics really helped to organise in my mind what I’d learnt and made them much more memorable, and it was a nice change to get creative too!”