J Geoffrey Lane | 26 January 1946 - 30 July 2025
Geoff Lane was born into a Herefordshire farming family in January 1946. An uncle, Arbuthnott Lane, was one of the pioneers of human surgery, working shortly after the introduction of asepsis, and was instrumental in developing the “no touch” technique, for the surgeon to keep their fingers out of the surgical field. After school at Dean Close, Geoff chose Veterinary Surgery and went the Royal Veterinary College in London, qualifying in 1969.
He was drawn to surgery from the start and after some time in practice he undertook the House Vet position at the Royal Veterinary College. In 1974 he moved to Bristol University where he specialised in Ear Nose and Throat surgery. Much of his early published work related to small animals, but his primary interest was always horses and in 1977 he was the inaugural winner of the Richard Hartley Clinical Prize for a paper in Equine Vet Journal on the Treatment of Equine Sarcoids by Cryosurgery. In 1974 he gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and in 1989 he was elected President of BEVA, the British Equine Veterinary Association. His Congress that year was in Warwick and in 2002 he would delvier the Hobday memorial lecture to Congress.
At Bristol University he taught ear nose and throat surgery to many years of veterinary students, seamlessly moving between tie-back surgery in a dog and then in a horse in the same morning. He also trained a series of young equine surgeons, Residents as they are now known. Simon Howarth was the first equine resident in the UK sponsored by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, and his success prompted them to sponsor many further residents. His next Resident was Jill Richardson. Geoff had the idea, which she carried through, to compare the dentition of horses to their actual documented age. Back then, it was common for experienced practitioners to claim to accurately age horses by their teeth up to 12 years of age or more - hence “you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. Geoff and Jill showed this was a complete fallacy, and beyond the age of 5 there was extraordinary variation in appearance of the teeth, largely unrelated to age. This fundamentally overturned established dogma and changed the Pre-Purchase Examination form such that subsequently a horse’s age was established by documentation.
Bruce Bladon, the current President of BEVA was his next Resident, from 1995 to 1998. Bruce says “Geoff was an absolute inspiration to me. He was always, first and foremost, a true gentleman. He showed me how rewarding a career as an equine surgeon could be. Not specifically financially, but in terms of the life, the opportunities to travel, the friends you can make around the world, the excitement of dealing with valuable athletes and watching them return to elite sport, and finally, the rewards of working with such beautiful animals. Without Geoff I don’t know if I would ever have managed to become an equine surgeon, and I certainly would not have enjoyed the career I have. He won’t mind me saying, he found teaching the actual act of surgery challenging. All the great surgeons do - imagine how difficult it is to watch someone hacking away at something you can do so much quicker and better. But he placed immense trust in me, allowing me to operate on my own at an early stage. I recall one day when I was convinced that I needed supervision with one case. I pursued Geoff down to the Faculty Changing rooms — no mere Residents were allowed in there in those days. He didn’t reappear and I began to page him, eventually tracking him down to the other side of the campus. I recall at the time saying, he must have climbed out of the window. Only many years later did I realise he knew that I should tackle this procedure on my own”. Subsequent Residents included Greg Quinn, now director at Cambridge Equine Hospital in Waikato, New Zealand, Jessica Kidd and Laura McCkluskey.
Geoff was the Veterinary Delegate to Badminton Horse Trials from 1980 until 2013, back then one of only two 5* (as they are now) three day events in the world. From 1983 until 2013 he was a member of the 3 man panel adjudicating on yearlings returned for wind conditions at Tattersalls major Sales. The panel published their findings which had a strong influence on Conditions of Sale at auctions of Thoroughbreds throughout the world. He enjoyed recalling a story of being introduced as a Professor from the University of Tattersalls.
During this time Geoff was a pioneer of high speed treadmill video-endoscopy of horses. This work was ultimately published by Sam Franklin in 2001. However, by this stage friction with University bureaucracy was becoming evident. The treadmill was owned and run by the Department of Anatomy and Geoff would consult as a specialist from the Department of Clinical Sciences, not to mention provide the actual cases. It was the politics of University life that prompted Geoff to leave in 2007 to pursue his own private practice. He operated on many hundreds of horses every year, including elite racehorses. He taught hundreds of veterinary students over the years and lectured world-wide as a recognised expert on the equine upper respiratory tract.
Throughout his life Geoff was a keen and accomplished sportsman. For many years whilst a lecturer at the Bristol Vet School he would challenge any of the prevailing final year students to a game of squash on the court at Langford and he rarely lost. He was a regular member of the Langford “Professionals” cricket team and most Wednesday evenings could be found pursuing a different form of bowling in the skittles alleys attached to several of the pubs of North Somerset. With his “eye for a ball”, on the golf course Geoff could propel said ball an enormous distance, although not always in the direction he intended. Latterly knee surgery restricted his golfing ambitions but one never heard him complain even when he had ultimately received such a devastating diagnosis.
He spent many happy days in the shooting line ribbing his colleagues who were less able than himself but acknowledging like the gentleman he was when someone “wiped his eye”. He and Maz raised many litters of Vislas and it was not uncommon for Geoff to have several in his car at any one time- his vehicles were chosen not only for the requirements of his work but for the comfort of his beloved dogs.
He was still operating regularly until shortly before his death. Sadly sciatica and back pain turned out to be metastatic cancer, and he died within a few weeks of diagnosis. Geoff was devoted to and enormously proud of his family. He is survived by his wife of over 40 years, “Maz” Lane, and his two sons, Henry and Giles who is now married to a vet, along with his much loved grandchildren.
Within the equine world Geoff has a well-deserved and enviable reputation for his skill and integrity, most notably for his willingness to share his expertise and knowledge with everyday practitioners. Indeed, in his final weeks and days Geoff was surprised by the extent of the “fuss”, as he described it, flowing in his direction from friends, colleagues and clients. Geoff deserved every accolade and heart felt concern; he was an immense figure in the lives of many in the equestrian and veterinary worlds. Geoff was a gentleman and a professional in every sense. He will be sorely missed by a great many of us who were fortunate enough to know him as a friend and colleague.