EQUITARIAN SESSION


ects and has been adapted to three different cultures in two languages. Mentors and collaborators have supported 5 new international veterinary programs launched by par- ticipants in the equitarian workshops: Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti. Costa Rica is a weeklong annual project that was started in 2011 and is supported by the participating veter- inarians and grants from the AAEP Foundation. Similarly, Honduras is a weeklong annual project that was started in 2012 and is partially financed by private donations. Mexico’s project is typically a 5-day annual project that began in 2012 and is par- tially funded by donations from the leader’s clients. Guatemala’s project began 3 years ago and includes 2 annual work weeks. It is supported by Full Bucket, members of the Texas Equine Veterinary Association, MWI, and the AAEP Foundation. The Haiti project began 2 years ago and continues with 2 weeklong visits a year. It is primarily funded by donations and fundraisers supported by the leader’s clients.


Veterinarians from Project Samana and HSVMA/


RAVS, now also equitarian leaders, have mentored new project leaders, helping each develop supply lists and plans for negotiating permits and passage through customs. WHW has been an invaluable partner in Honduras and Guatemala and an in- creasingly important one in Costa Rica and Haiti. Individual workshop attendees have gone on to gain additional experience by volunteering for other working equid health care projects sponsored by HSVMA/RAVS in Peru, Nicaragua, and Guatemala; Project Samana in the Dominican Republic; and Sustainable Veterinarians International in Nicara- gua. Several Mexican veterinarians from the pre- ceding workshops have joined a number of these projects. Two Americans have been inspired to change their career path, seeking advanced training in international public health to better understand its link to the welfare of working equids. One past participant now works full time for the Brooke in the United Kingdom. Equid health programs on Amer- ican Indian reservations have benefitted from par- ticipant training, including a new one that was initiated after the workshop. With the support of WHW’s infrastructure, the equitarian project in Honduras has become the model for effective in-country engagement to both benefit working equids and provide valuable clinical training to future veterinarians. WHWinitially in- vited a team of equitarian veterinarians to join their farrier and saddler training program for 4 days in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in 2012. Concurrently, the new UNA veterinary college faculty were in- vited to bring their charter class of students (n  10) to join the US veterinarians to gain clinical experience. This new veterinary college is in a very poor country and has no teaching hospital, so clinical skills must be gained by external rota- tions. Local veterinarians (n  8) also joined in


320 2015  Vol. 61  AAEP PROCEEDINGS


and actively discussed the health problems ob- served and new veterinary techniques. Health care services included vaccination against tetanus and rabies, deworming, harness sore and wound care, dentistry, castrations, lameness evaluations, and disease diagnosis. Evening seminars on den- tistry, parasites, colic, and lameness were pro- vided to the veterinary students and local veterinarians. Very positive feedback on the value of the learning experience was received from the veterinary college, encouraging further collaboration. The evolution of the WHW program model has


shaped EI’s perceptions of program components to augment impact and sustainability. In 2013, WHW chose to move its Honduras program to Choluteca based on strong support of the mayor, high number of working equids, and need for greater safety of the participants as a result of rising crime. The new model is based on a 3-year plan to support more than 20 communities that rely on working equids to haul firewood, building materials, trash, and agricultural products. A subset of equids works as personal transportation and/or herding cattle. This model, in addition to training farriers and saddlers, includes training a person to become a community-based equine advisor in each commu- nity. These individuals become a resource for working equid owners on subjects of animal health and welfare. WHW’s annual invitation of UNA and the equita-


rian team to work together for a week has had a significant impact on UNA’s veterinary students. UNA leaders have chosen to bring the entire 3rd- year class each year: 23 students in 2013 and 27 in 2014. At the start of the week, several veterinary students were frightened by horses, and most lacked physical examination skills. By the end of the week, however, the students had participated in the treatment of hundreds of working equids, developed physical examination skills equivalent to US veter- inary students at the beginning of their senior year, and experienced an effective form of community ser- vice. Equine veterinary topics were taught in classroom lectures and wet labs at WHW’s office. For better efficiency, the lectures were provided on the first 2 days of the week in 2014, and the wet labs were held in the mornings before traveling to the communities. Community-based equine advisors, farrier and saddler trainees, staff, and local veteri- narians were also invited to these educational activities. The equitarian veterinarians were inspired by the veterinary students’ eagerness to advance their knowledge and skills. The equitarians learned the challenges of working in extreme tropical heat, the impact of cultural differences in horse handling, and the limits of availability and affordability of medi- cations. American veterinarians new to the team quickly became familiar with pervasive issues such as harness sores, seasonal recurrent airway obstruc-


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