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Please click here to see the Timetable for our upcoming Conference.
Please click here for the AGM Agenda. We have been approached by the lovely Jane Hunter, Executive Director of British Eventing Support Trust and asked to share details of a Trustee opportunity within their charity.
As many of you are aware, BEST provides support to British Eventing members when they need help after an accident to get them on the road back to enjoying eventing. Jane will be giving us an update at this year's conference of how the charity has grown since it's launch in 2021 and its plans for the next couple of years. Please click here for a profile for the position. Applications are open until Sunday 30th November with interviews taking place in the New Year. We are getting ready for our last moulage session of 2025 at Stratford Racecourse on Saturday 22nd November. It was our best ever attended session last year and we are keen to have a similar take up. One of the most engaging sessions was that run by Marc Epps, supported by local vets regarding trapped jockeys and the management of the scenario. Marc has kindly agreed to join the MEA Faculty again to provide this again.
Another member who is offering her services is Lizzie Dyer, MEA member, who runs Focus Training. Like she did last year, Lizzie has very kindly offered to provide a Basic Life Support update for those practitioners not routinely exposed to training within their own workplaces (or who need it ahead of the BHA registrations for those on professional courses). This will take place after the MEA Moulage Session.
Lizzie is, very kindly, not charging the MEA for providing this service however does require £5 to cover the regulators fee for a certificate to be provided.  A full day of talks, case studies, and discussions focused on medical response, rider welfare, and safety in equestrian sport. Our Conference is not restricted to the MEA members; however, members get a discounted rate. We welcome any medical professional or those in related roles who provide services or have an interest in equestrian sport – no matter what the discipline.
Speakers:
The Annual MEA Dinner is in the evening at the hotel – as a celebration of the 40th Anniversary, the council have reduced the ticket price to £50 per head. The dinner is not exclusive to attendees of the conference. Partners are more than welcome. For those that wish to stay – we have secured reduced accommodation rates for the rooms at the venue. Your room can be booked via the application form. Please note that we do not have an indefinite number of rooms allocated so please book sooner rather than later. Rooms can also be booked directly via the hotel or on booking.com. Here is the application form - it is an editable form so you should be able to do it on a computer without having to print the form. If you wish to do it on your phone/ipad and struggle - complete and take a screen shot before closing it incase it doesn't save. Please return any forms to [email protected]. If you have any issues please do let Gemma know via the above email. Well we were very very lucky that Storm Amy decided to blow through the Blenheim Palace estate at the start of the week and by the time that we arrived on Friday morning for our Moulage session the sun was shining and jumpers were being taken off! CPR Simon & Resus Rosie were aided through a number of different scenarios by MEA members and two team physicians from visiting national federations. The session was also observed by Dr Mark Hart, Chair of the FEI Medical Committee.  Next Moulage Session: Friday 19th September - We are very grateful to the team at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials for allowing us to hold one of our moulage sessions at the event. If you would like to attend or have any questions, please email me ASAP as spaces will be limited. The session will be in the morning and finished by lunch. There are also opportunities for shadowing the medical team at the horse trials - please email me if you are interested.
2025 Conference: Friday 21st November - All systems are go for our 2025 Annual Conference in Stratford upon Avon. The application form will be sent out but please make sure the date is in your diary. We are going to return to Stratford Racecourse on Saturday 22nd November for our final moulage session of the year. A trip to Royal Windsor Horse Show for a moulage session last week. We are very grateful to Katharine, our training lead and also the Medical Lead at RWHS for arranging this for us. We were able to use part of the Driving marathon course which meant that "Dangerous Dave" our old training guy was sent down to the water crossing, whilst "CPR Simon" our sensible friend went to one of the other obstacles. Simon has now be joined by "Resus Rosie" as sadly Dangerous Dave didn't make the journey home from Windsor with Katharine but instead found a new home in a skip!
A number of members enjoyed a great day out at Badminton on Thursday where we were welcomed into the Horse Trials Support Group marquee and were able to join a course walk with William Fox Pitt and Marie Ryan. Thanks also to Marc Epps who took us around the medical centre and explained to the members all the resources used.
 Badminton is fast approaching and the draw has been done - https://www.badminton-horse.co.uk/index.php/entries/2025/
As previously mentioned, the Horse Trials Support Group are, very kindly, welcoming us to use their tent to meet on the Thursday and join their course walk, the cost of which will be covered by the MEA. The walk will start from their tent near the main arena at 10am and is being hosted by Spencer Sturmey (HTSG Chair) and former 5* rider, Marie Ryan who has competed at Badminton herself. I need to have the final numbers in order to sort the ticket price negotiation so please can you let me know by 12noon on Friday 25th April (this Friday!) if you would like attend. Please also note that I have to provide the HTSG with a list of names prior to the event so if you would like to join us and already have a ticket, please also let me know. For those attending on Friday - the HTSG is hosting a Cross Country Preview Evening at 5.30pm in their tent. They are welcoming non-members to attend for a £10 donation which includes a drink from their bar. Tickets need to be purchased in advance. Please click here for more info: https://www.htsg.co.uk/news. 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the MEA - please do visit the website to see "The History of the MEA", written by one of the founding members, Dr John Lloyd-Parry. To celebrate this anniversary, the council is keen to arrange some social gatherings at equestrian events. The first of these will be at Badminton Horse Trials in May and will culminate at London International Horse Show in December. There will also be some inbetween but we would love your input. The main aim of these gatherings is to get MEA members together. If it is at a fancy equestrian event great, but equally it could be a fun point to point or maybe a polo match and also it can be anywhere in the UK. If you have any ideas, please do let me know.
In November, we had a great conference with over 60 people attending and almost 30 coming to our moulage session the following day at Stratford Racecourse. The council were delighted that Ilona Barnett, Managing Director from Stratford, fully embraced our ethos for the moulage sessions and helped Andy to arrange for a horse mannequin together with some the Stratford ground staff and vet team to attend. Paul Miller from the PPA was delighted to see CPR Simon in action! A huge thanks goes ofcourse to Katharine, our MEA Training Lead for the sessions for the day.  During the conference, we held the AGM - please click here for the draft minutes which will be approved at the 2025 AGM. As part of the meeting we also received reports from the Chair, Hon Secretary and Hon Treasurer. Please click their names for their reports. As you will see from the minutes, we have a new chair, Mr Stephen Andrews, a new vice, Dr Linsey Whitley and new council member Dr Clare McLean. If you would like to learn more about each of them, please do click on their names to be taken to the MEA website where there is a page on each of them. A token of the council's thanks was given to Andy at the Dinner after conference.  Finally we have managed to get a new website up and running - it is a work in progress so please be patient as we continue to move some material over from the old site.
If there is anything you would like to see on our website then please do email us! |
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