Between May and June 2021 three BEVA Trust volunteers delivered online presentations in Spanish via an online platform for the WHW teams working in Latin America.
All three speakers were able to present in a context-specific manner, making their talks applicable to low-resource setting. First, Adrian Allan from Marches Veterinary Group gave a fantastic presentation on the fundamentals of equine dentistry, including a practical demonstration using tools available in the projects in Latin America. Albert Mestres Aldavó from Murrell Equine delivered an interesting and interactive session, including polls, on basic farriery and hoof balance. The final speaker, Jennifer Antpöhler from the Equine Clinic at the University of Justus-Liebig in Giessen, Germany, carried out her veterinary studies in Colombia and so had a good understanding of the common issues seen in this area. Jennifer gave a great presentation on wound management, illustrated by lots of examples of wounds.
Each presentation had approximately 30 attendees from project staff and stakeholders associated with World Horse Welfare partners projects in Latin America: Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and Costa Rica. The attendees had lots of questions and found the talks very interesting and informative.
Albert Mestres Aldavo, talks about his experience of virtual volunteering. “Volunteering with WHW was a great experience!! Coordinating everything with their UK based staff and their local regional coordinators was very easy and the end results was great. I felt that people attending the webinar were very interested in the topic as well and very proactive in taking part.”
Jennifer Antpohler shares her experience of volunteering virtually. “I talked about equine wound management and common disease in horses, diagnosis, treatment, medication and prognostics were discussed. I also discussed different options to help our patients all around the world, it is best to learn from each other’s experience. I really enjoyed being part of the webinar series! Hopefully the BEVA Trust will continue these important and wonderful projects.”