The 4th European Equine Health & Nutrition Congress will take place from 18 – 19 of April 2008 at the surroundings of Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), Wageningen, The Netherlands. The congress is organized by “The Equine Health & Nutrition Association” in cooperation with the Animal Nutrition Group, which is part of the Animal Science group of WUR. The Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Biology of Large Animals at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University are also involved in the organization. Representatives of these institutes and representatives from Utrecht University (NED), Wageningen University (NED), Molisse University (I), the Institut für Tierernährung (GER) and l’ Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (F) are seated in the scientific committee of this congress.
The congress has a two-day programme, which consists of invited speaker sessions and a free communications. Proceedings will be available at the congress and will contain full articles by the invited speakers and abstracts from free communications. The congress has an applied character. To stimulate a multidisciplinary exchange of know-how the organizing committee invites all researchers, veterinarians, universities, feed industry, nutritionists, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry, breeders, professional horse men/women and their co-workers, sport federations and educative institutions to participate in this learning process.
The following speakers have accepted our invitation; Dr. Michael I. Lindinger (CAN) will discuss the topic “Sweating, dehydration and electrolyte supplementation: Challenges for the performance horse”. Dr. Pat Harris (UK) will speak about “Hints on nutrition for optimal growth”. Dr. Wendy Pearson will review the “Usefulness of glucosamine, chondroitin and other nutraceuticals for the prevention and/or treatment of arthritis in horses”. Prof. Bruno Goddeeris (BE) will provide an introduction for the session “immunonutrition”. In this session Prof. Mario Orlandi (I) will discuss the topic immune transfer & colostrums. Dr Lori Warren (University of Florida ) will speak about “Potential immuno-stimulatory nutrients for horses”. Further topics and details will be announced on the congress website http://www.equine-congress.com.
Further, participants can also register for either two “applied” workshops or a lecture/discussion session. Dr. Lindinger will lead a demonstration related to Non-invasive, quantitative assessment of dehydration using multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis”. A workshop “Practical grass and forage management” will be given by Dr. A. M. van den Top.
Participants can also join a combined lecture and workshop/discussion session regarding horse feed legislation. The lecture will be given by Ir. Diederik Standaert (Directorate General for Animals, Plants and Food – Belgian Authorities). The lecture is entitled: “Current European legislation regarding animal/horse feeding stuffs and future perspectives”. Subsequently a discussion meeting will be organised.
Further information regarding this congress will be announced on http://www.equine-congress.com. Registration form can be downloaded from this website.