Roly Owers received the BEVA Equine Welfare Award for driving forward some major initiatives for the horse industry.

World Horse Welfare CEO receives BEVA Equine Welfare Award

World Horse Welfare CEO Roly Owers has been honoured for his achievements in equine welfare at the 2016 BEVA Congress in Birmingham.

Mr Owers received the BEVA Equine Welfare Award for driving forward some major initiatives for the horse industry. These include the establishment of the Horse Crisis group of charities, a successful campaign for Control of Horses Act and the production of guidelines for transporters.

Recognising Mr Ower's achievements, a spokesperson for BEVA said: "As chief executive of the charity since 2008, Roly has driven forward many major initiatives for the horse industry, most having a direct impact on animal welfare and disease prevention or control.

"He has used his position to develop programmes across the equine sector and has provided much needed dispassionate and effective leadership."

The BEVA Awards are developed in conjunction with various supporters to reflect BEVA's recognition of and support for significant accomplishments by equine vets and others involved in horse welfare.

Other worthy winners included Dr Annette McCoy, who received the BEVA Richard Hartley Clinical Award for her paper on standardbred racing performance after osteochondrosis surgery. The award is given in memory of Richard Hartley, a founder member of BEVA and president to 1974-1975.

Dr Franziska Wohlfender took home the BEVA Trust Peter Rossdale Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ) Award for the paper "International online survey to assess current practice in equine anaesthesia." This is awarded to the paper that best achieves the EVJ's mission to publish articles 'which influence and improve clinical practice and/or add significantly to the scientific knowledge that underpins and supports veterinary medicine in relation to the horse'.


Finally, this year's BEVA Award went to Ellen Paulussen for her paper on 'Radiographic and Ultrasonographic Evaluation of the Esophagus in the Horse'. Ellen's presentation won the award at the Voorjaarsdagen Congress in April 2016.