BEVA Projects

Council member, Helen Bickerton, and President, Imogen Burrows, are creating a one-stop-shop for vets and nurses to better understand this sometimes essential aspect of treatment and rehabilitation. Now with a greater understanding of the behavioural needs of our patients we can provide enrichment and reduce any negative impact, so that we can do better than has been possible in the past and see the beneficial effects this has on patient outcomes. 

MonitorME is BEVA Immediate Past President, Bruce Bladon's raison d'être. Having gathered data for 2023 from 32 practices, which have treated 141,638 horses, this may represent 20% of the UK population. Data collection is in action for 2024. This would not only allow the industry to keep track of usage quantities and patterns, but also for individual practices to benchmark their usage against the average. 

Past President, Roger Smith, had a dream... he wanted to bring research groups and practising vets and nurses together to make great things happen! With Nicole Larkin from the Royal Veterinary College, he is creating the Research Portal where the worlds of research and clinical practice can meet their matches!

Radiography skills are essential to most in equine practice, both vets and nurses. While we will not all be dedicated radiographers, we have a duty to ensure our skills are sufficient in order to carry out diagnostic procedures which involve ionising radiation, both within clinics and out in the field. Insurance companies see a wide range of quality of radiograph amongst those taken for pre-purchase examinations. BEVA endeavours to help improve the skillset of all members who are willing to try, by way of offering practical CPD, live online and membership app discussion forums, and recorded webinars. There are hopes and plans afoot to produce an online platform for interactive learning, which should see a one-stop-shop created to reference technique and appraise outcomes in order to enable learning and improving skills across the board.

BEVA Trustee, Ian Beamish, is leading a small working group on a review of the current euthanasia guidelines for all risks of mortality insurance.

The guidelines were redrafted and discussed with key members of the equine insurance industry, including the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS). Phase 2 is currently underway, where the Table of Conditions is under review.

Council members Nicola Housby-Skeggs and Ian Beamish have been busy creating an easy to reference digital guide on splinting limb fractures in the field. It includes everything from equipment through to technique. There will be photos and videos to help you make the right decision under pressure, and to give the patient the best chance of a good recovery.

Tim Mair’s original BEVA Pre-Purchase Examination manual has stood the test of time, and together with the ever-popular PPE – The Essentials CPD course, have guided equine vets through this tricky part of equine practice for years now. A few years ago Council members set about reviewing the manual and have created a digital PPE Toolkit, which contains all the information and documents you need to confidently navigate the PPE process in the UK. 

A new Seller Declaration document is undergoing refinement with the VDS and RCVS, and will be promoted as an industry standard in collaboration with the British Horse Society. The aim is that all parties involved will clearly understand their roles and responsibilities as they proceed through a vetting, from start to finish, with minimal potential for misunderstanding and confusion.

Following completion of the above, a new BEVA PPE Worksheet will be available without the Seller Declaration part. And there will be some useful tips for sellers and purchaser to help them make the process as smooth as possible for themselves and each other.

President, Imogen Burrows, is embarking on a project which aims to provide a toolkit for vets and nurses in practice to help them deal with emergency cases where standard methods of handling and restraint are not applicable, and neither is behavioural retraining. With guidance on everything from oral sedation in feed, to injection poles and dart guns, this resource will be available on your phone, in the field, just when you need it most. 

President, Imogen Burrows is creating a toolkit to help vets navigate urgent situations where a horse requires treatment or euthanasia but an owner can not be identified.

Council member, Nicky Housby-Skeggs, is leading on a BEVA Position Statement and working towards improved guidance and stronger legislation which will help better protect equine anthelmintics. With increasing resistance we would like to see better recording, traceability and accountability for all prescribers of these important medicines.

Junior Vice President, James Crabtree, presented the results of our survey at Congress In September 2025. The next stage of this project is to identify the need for guidance and create support for those in practice with cryostorage facilities, helping improve reliability and performance and minimise critical events and accidents in practice.