LYRATH Estate in Co Kilkenny was the venue for the recent Irish Equine Veterinary Association Conference.

The four-day event attracted 200 delegates, 50 speakers and 30 exhibitors for a series of lectures, workshops, wetlabs, case studies, clinical abstracts, wellness sessions and business seminars.

There was also time for some serious networking opportunities in the Exhibitors’ Hall, which was officially opened by Pippa Hackett, Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture.

The gala dinner was the social highlight. Brendan McArdle of The Irish Field acted as MC and the winners of the Case Awards were presented during the evening.

There was also a raffle in aid of the Irish Veterinary Benevolent Fund, which offers independent, confidential and free assistance to the veterinary community including vets, veterinary nurses (whether practising or not) and their dependents.

Former professional rugby player Bernard Jackman was the special guest at the dinner, quite a coup considering Ireland was playing New Zealand at the same time.

The IEVA team really pulled out all the stops by having the match streaming during the evening.

Following the end of the formal proceedings, guests danced into the wee hours. This was judged to be the most successful IEVA Conference to date and the hard-working team at the IEVA is already making plans for 2025, when the Lyrath Estate will again be the host from November 6th-8th.

IEVA president Sabrina Barnell said: “I would like to thank everyone for participating at IEVA Conference 2024; Ireland’s largest equine veterinary event of its kind. Without the exhibitors’ and sponsors’ commitment to the Irish equine veterinary industry and support of IEVA, it would not be possible to host this ever-growing conference. For this, IEVA is very appreciative.”

Winner of the ‘Graduate’ IEVA Case Award, sponsored by IMV Imaging, was Lucy Lamount for her study into ‘The long- term successful treatment of a non-healing orosinus fistula with placement of a 16mm diameter titanium screw within the compromised alveolus”.

Andrea del Rincon won the ‘Practitioner’ IEVA Case Award, sponsored by Connolly’s Red Mills and Foran Equine, for her study into fungal sinusitis.

The focus now turns to the IEVA Breeding Symposium on November 28th in the Lyrath Estate.

Web: irisheva.ie