The 14th Annual Purina Equine Veterinarian
Conference, held at the Double Tree Hotel within the historic Union Station,
downtown St. Louis on October 11 – 13 was by all reports, a resounding success. Consistent with the standard that Purina has
set over the years for hosting a high-quality, informative yet fun meeting,
this year’s conference was rated highly by over 350 attending veterinarians,
vet technicians and vet students. The
group was hosted by over 30 Purina Sales Specialists and the entire Purina
Horse Business team. We all learned a
great deal and had a wonderful weekend.
The meeting kicked off on Friday evening with a joint
presentation by Dr. Mike Pownall, DVM and Mr. John A. Chalk, Jr., CPA, JD, CFP
who talked to the audience about tools for managing and even building business
in today’s tough economy. The
presentations on Saturday and Sunday were focused on equine endocrine and
myopathic conditions, topics that were timely and important to the
attendees. Purina was very proud to have
Dr.’s Dianne McFarlane, DVM, PhD,
DACVIM and Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD,
DACVIM present the latest research findings on conditions including PPID, EMS,
PSSM, Shivers and other equine myopathies, along with case-based information
and experience to help practitioners with differential diagnostics and
treatments.
The Purina
technical team presented the latest in research and nutrition topics; Dr. Mary
Beth Gordon, PhD, presented the latest research findings published from the
Purina Animal Nutrition Center equine research program; Dr. Kelly Vineyard,
PhD, covered feeding horses with gastrointestinal disorders; Dr. Katherine Williamson, DVM, shared
information on serum and plasma indicators of nutritional status in horses; Dr.
Katie Young, PhD, presented how to approach nutritional consults with diet
evaluation and recommendations; Dr. Karen Davison, PhD, covered nutritional
management of horses with soluble carbohydrate sensitivities. In addition, Mr. Mike Jerina, MBA, reported
on the research and renovations going on at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center
Horse Unit and Mr. Kent Lanter, MBA, showed the quality and safety measures required
in feed manufacturing at Purina Animal Nutrition to the vet technicians. The Vet Tech program also included Merck Animal
Health Equine Technical Services Specialist, Dr. Wendy Vaala, VMD, DACVIM who
presented important information on effective deworming programs. Dr. Vaala also presented information to the
entire conference on Horse Care For Life, a new web-based program participating
veterinarians can offer to their clients.
Horse Care For Life is a partnership between Merck Animal Health and
Purina Animal Nutrition to offer reliable, factual information for horse owners
as well as a vehicle for keeping up with health records.
We’d like to
extend a special thanks to Deb Reeder and the Board of Directors for the
American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians (AAEVT). It was at their urging that Purina Animal
Nutrition instituted the Equine Vet Technician program along with our annual
Equine Veterinary Conference. This is a
group of professionals who have an unmatched passion for horses.
Saturday evening
was highlighted by an exclusive Budweiser Brewery and Stable tour which
included getting close and personal with the world-famous Budweiser
Clydesdales. We were fortunate, due to
the Saint Louis Cardinals playoff schedule, the entire hitch was in town for
this group to meet. The Budweiser
Clydesdale team served as excellent hosts and managed to rotate over 400 of us
through a behind-the scenes stable tour and an interesting brewery tour, all
capped off with fun Budweiser beer tasting.
Purina Animal Nutrition is very proud to be feeding these awesome
horses.
As with all good
meetings, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes on prior to the actual
event that helps make things go smoothly.
Hosting a group this large is quite an undertaking and requires involvement
of the entire Purina Horse Business Group, but this meeting couldn’t happen
without the tireless efforts of Kathy Farris, Marketing Coordinator for the
Purina Horse Business. Kathy ‘s never
ending attention to detail and true commitment to making this event a wonderful
experience for attendees takes a tremendous amount of time beyond her normal
busy schedule. We just couldn’t get it
done without her. Thanks Kathy!
This Veterinarian Conference was very helpful to make decision for better services.
ReplyDeleteVeterinarians in Abanda
I remember going to another veterinary tech conference and I was so thrilled to learn about the exciting innovations in the industry. I learned a great deal about the various cloud based veterinary software tools and applications for managing health care organizations. Conferences such as these are wonderful opportunities to network as well. I hope to be present at the next event!
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