BHS and UoN Launch ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ Scheme

Vet Champions scheme launched to help horse owners detect early signs of colic

The British Horse Society (BHS) and University of Nottingham (UoN) have teamed up to launch the ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ scheme which will support the ‘REACT Now to Beat Colic’ campaign.

The ‘REACT Now to Beat Colic’ campaign was launched in 2016 as a result of five years of research that found that 90% of horse owners did not feel confident spotting the early signs of colic, and that up to 1 in 3 cases of colic seen by vets as an ‘out of hours’ emergency were critical, requiring urgent veterinary care.

The acronym REACT helps horse owners to spot the early signs of colic:

• R – Restless or agitated

• E – Eating less or dropping reduced

• A – Abdominal pain

• C – Clinical changes

• T – Tired or lethargic

The new ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ initiative will see vets across the United Kingdom increase awareness of the causes of abdominal pain by providing their clients with advice, presentations and resources on all issues related to colic. The scheme is supported by 62 veterinary practices and will enable horse owners to create a vital plan of action, should their horse develop critical colic and require referral to an equine hospital. It is hoped that the scheme will help to prevent colic by providing owners across the country with the latest expert advice on the potentially fatal issue.

Emmeline Hannelly, Welfare Education Manager at the BHS said:

It’s fantastic that so many vets are supporting our ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ scheme – we are delighted to be working with them. We hope that it will help even more owners to make informed decisions related to colic and in turn, improve equine welfare.”

Sarah Freeman, Professor of Veterinary Surgery at the School of Veterinary Science and Medicine, University of Nottingham said:

We are delighted to be working with vet practices on the ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ scheme. Their support and guidance has been a huge help in reaching such a wide population and we hope we can reach even more people in the future.”

Alex Kingdon, BVM BVS MRCVS from Avonvale Equine Practice said:

Being part of the ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ scheme is incredibly important to our practice. Colic is by far one of the most common emergency conditions we see and the scheme has already had a huge impact on many horse owners.”

For further details on the ‘Vet REACT Colic Champions’ scheme and ‘React Now to Beat Colic’ campaign, please visit: www.bhs.org/colic.

Suzanne Ashton

Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.