Recent graduate, Sam Osborn, is celebrating success. She was named the winner of the student presentations at the recent ISES conference.
Sam, who graduated from Writtle University College in 2021 with a 1st class BSc (Hons) Equine Behavioural Science, and is continuing her studies at Writtle on the MSc Equine Performance Science programme, presented her dissertation research in an oral presentation at the International Society of Equitation Science's (ISES) annual conference.
The event, which has held online, took place from 20th to 22nd October 2021 with the aim of 'Advancing Equestrian Practice to improve Equine Quality of Life'. The free conference attracted over 3600 participants from around the globe. 20 oral presentations and more than 40 poster presentations were held over three days.
Sam's talk was titled 'Co-operative care protocol using protected contact and positive reinforcement to facilitate simulated veterinary intra-muscular injections in horses'. The ISES judges commented on the importance of Sam's chosen topic and highlighted her research's high potential for application in practice and for improving equine welfare and veterinary safety.
Writtle University College (WUC) alumna Aline Bouquet was named the winner of the conference's student poster presentations with her poster presentation titled "Foal behaviour during artificial weaning is modulated by maternal behaviour experienced peri-natally".
Aline graduated with a 1st class BSc (Hons) Equine Science (Behaviour and Welfare) in 2015 and is currently completing a PhD with the RVC, co-supervised by WUC's Roberta Ferro de Godoy. She has conducted some of her data collection at the stud at WUC with support from past and current students.
Senior Lecturer Rosa Verwijs said: "We were delighted to see Sam and Aline's success at the conference. Their work covers areas of vital importance to the equine sector and I hope to see their research bring about positive change within the industry. Thank you to the ISES and everyone involved in the conference's organisation for offering researchers around the world an opportunity to share their findings and highlight ethical and forward-thinking practice."
Sam Osborn said: "I am passionate about improving equine welfare and educating as many people as possible about the changes they can make to improve their horse's wellbeing. I am delighted by the recognition from ISES and I hope that this brings us another step closer towards ethical and safe practices for horses and humans across all levels of the equine industry."
For more information on Writtle University College's equine courses, go to writtle.ac.uk/equine.