Horseman’s Forum Provides Valuable Education Opportunity for Equine Enthusiasts

February 14, 2020

Dr. Lescun speaks to a full-house in the Lynn Hall lecture room.
Dr. Timothy Lescun introduced Dr. Alec Davern of the Centaur Equine Specialty Hospital as one of the speakers at the 2020 Horseman’s Forum.

Purdue Veterinary Medicine welcomed over 200 attendees to the 2020 Horseman’s Forum at Lynn Hall this past weekend. The annual event is aimed at educating horse owners and equine professionals about today’s horse health issues.

Registered participants from across Indiana as well as Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio came to the day-long program on Saturday, February 8. Sessions covered a wide range of topics, with presentations ranging from “Yes? No? What Does ‘Headshaking’ Mean?,” by Dr. Amanda Farr, clinical assistant professor of equine community practice, to “Colic: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together,” by Dr. Alec Davern, staff surgeon at Centaur Equine Specialty Hospital. The lecture portion of the forum was held in Lynn 1136 throughout the morning, followed by an afternoon of demonstrations performed in the Large Animal Hospital.

  • An attendee reaches her hand inside the horse's mouth guided by Dr. Farr
    Dr. Amanda Farr (center) conducted an examination of a horse’s teeth during one of the demonstrations for Horseman’s Forum attendees.
  • Molly stands beside a horse with a bandage on its leg as attendees gather around her
    Molly Cripe Birt, RVT, VTS-EVN instructed horse owners on proper bandaging protocol.

Participants also learned how to effectively and efficiently bandage a horse’s leg as they watched a demonstration by Large Animal Surgery Technician Molly Cripe Birt, RVT, VTS-EVN.  They also were able to see Dr. Steve Adams, professor of large animal surgery, locate the area of lameness on a moving horse. Additionally, Dr. Farr conducted an equine dental examination while discussing equine dental health, and Dr. Laurent Couëtil, professor of large animal internal medicine, showed attendees PVM’s high-speed equine treadmill in action.

The Horseman’s Forum Committee of Dr. Timothy Lescun, associate professor of large animal surgery, Dr. Sandy Taylor, associate professor of large animal internal medicine, and Dr. Farr worked with the College’s Office of Lifelong Learning to plan and conduct the successful event. The 2020 Horseman’s Forum was sponsored by Dechra, Nutrena, and Zoetis. Planning already is underway for next year’s program, which is being renamed the Equine Wellness Forum, to be held at Lynn Hall on Saturday, February 6, 2021.

  • A crowd watches an equine treadmill demonstration led by Dr. Couetil with assistance from veterinary nurses.
    Dr. Laurent Couëtil pointed out a change in a horse’s gait and breathing as part of a demonstration of the high-speed equine treadmill.
  • Dr. Adams attaches sensors to a special hat on the horse's head as attendees look on
    Dr. Steve Adams demonstrated the use of the Lameness Locator, which is a sensor system that can aid in the diagnosis of lameness.

Writer(s): Maya Sanaba, PVM Communications Intern | pvmnews@purdue.edu

Recent Stories

“Paws Up” – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee

This week, we are proud to recognize Lorraine Fox, who is a business assistant with the Veterinary Medicine Procurement Center.

PVM Interview Days Move College Closer to Admitting the DVM Class of 2030

After a total of three afternoons dedicated to conducting in-person interviews with 226 prospective veterinary students, the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine is close to completing the process of admitting 84 members of the incoming first-year DVM class – the Class of 2030.  The students invited for the interview days were selected from a total pool of 1,930 applicants from across the country as well as countries abroad.

Experts to Gather at Purdue for Conference Addressing the Public Health Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance

The ongoing challenges posed by multi-drug resistant infections will be the focus of a multidisciplinary conference taking place in three weeks at Purdue University.  The Fourth Annual Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance is set for February 25–26, 2026 at Purdue’s Stewart Center in West Lafayette. Registration is still open for the event, which will bring together scientists and scholars from human and veterinary medicine, public health, research, and industry to address the determinants, dynamics and deterrence of drug resistance.

PVM’s Upcoming Coppoc One Health Lecture to Focus on Dogs as Sentinels of Environmental Exposure

The Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine brings a leading One Health scholar to campus each year to address vital health issues from a One Health perspective as part of the Coppoc One Health Lecture series.  This year’s presentation, scheduled for February 26 in Lynn Hall Room 2026, is on the engaging topic, “One Health at Home: Dogs as Sentinels of Environmental Exposure.” The speaker will be Audrey Ruple, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVPM, MRCVS, the Dorothy A. and Richard G. Metcalf Professor of Veterinary Medical Informatics at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

“Paws Up” – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee

Today we are happy to acknowledge our Student Success Center Team.

One Health: A ‘digital twin’ model for predicting cancer outcomes

The striking similarities between invasive bladder cancer in dogs and humans have fueled research advances for more than three decades. Most of that work has looked at separate aspects of the disease — risk factors, early detection, symptoms, treatment and gene expression. But a new project at Purdue University that combines many types of available data in a “digital twin” model of bladder cancer may prove powerful enough to predict patient outcomes, starting with the probability of metastasis.

Purdue Professor Emeritus Bill Blevins Wins Lifetime Achievement Award at ACVR Annual Meeting

The American College of Veterinary Radiology (ACVR) gave its esteemed Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024 to Purdue Professor Emeritus Bill Blevins, who is well known to countless Purdue Veterinary Medicine alumni for the expertise he taught them about all things Diagnostic Imaging during his long Purdue career.