AAEP to welcome 4,000 attendees to Baltimore

Baltimore

-- More than 4,000 equine veterinarians, veterinary students and veterinary technicians are expected to converge on the Baltimore Convention Center to attend the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) meeting Dec. 4-8, 2010.The association reports that the meeting will strengthen "the equine veterinarian's ability to serve the horse through applicable science, effective business tactics and welfare advocacy." It's also billed as the world's largest gathering of equine health-care professionals.

This year's meeting features 100 hours of continuing education in scientific presentations, industry forums, equine welfare sessions and business management workshops, AAEP reports.

Features scheduled for this year's meeting include:

* Keynote address, Sunday, Dec. 5: Dr. Thomas R. Lenz discusses "The Equine Welfare Wars: When Emotion and Fact Collide." The presentation will focus on society's varying ideas about the acceptable treatment of horses.

* Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture, Monday, Dec. 6: Equine ophthalmology researcher Dr. Dennis E. Brooks wants to help veterinarians save the vision of horses with catastrophic disease. The lecture is titled "Catastrophic Ocular Surface Failure in the Horse."

* Farrier program, Dec. 8: A full day of lectures presented by leading veterinarians and farriers.

* Equine welfare, Dec 8: This new special session will educate veterinarians on policies, perceptions and facts surrounding America's unwanted horses, medication abuse in competition, the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses and other timely welfare issues. "Veterinarians will be exposed to opportunities to protect the welfare of horses at their practices, at the racetrack and in third-world communities," AAEP says.

* Business education: AAEP is offering new sessions on practice trends, profitability measurement, staff management, marketing tactics and more. Workshops are scheduled throughout the program, with a new Business Education Interactive Workshop for practitioners wanting to improve their practices' profitability on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

* Student programs, Dec. 5: The Student Program Luncheon brings students and experienced practitioners together for a variety of roundtable discussions on lifestyle and professional topics. The Avenues Internship/Externship Career Night returns to the program on Dec. 5 as well. The event gives veterinary students a venue to meet with representatives of more than 80 participating equine practices.

* 6th Annual American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians Convention. The two-day program for technicians includes lectures, roundtable discussions, case studies and wet labs.

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