HRH The Princess Royal, National Equine Forum President, provided her remarks on the topics discussed throughout #NEF25, and presented the 2025 Sir Colin Spedding Award.
Watch the recording here: youtu.be/K5K3MWHYZfI
The recording of our #NEF25 Memorial Lecture titled ‘Charities Working Together’ is available now.
Chaired by James Hick, speakers were:
- Penny Baker, Field Officer
- Jana Merrett-Jones
- Christine Styles
Watch the video here: youtu.be/RxCKgiH9uI4
Our #NEF25 afternoon sessions began with a Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games review.
Chaired by Jim Eyre, Helen Nicholls (Performance Director, British Equestrian) gave the review before she and Jim took questions.
Watch the recording here: youtu.be/lv1gQJEMT1c
The recording of the #NEF25 Equine Industry in a Changing World session, chaired by Roly Owers, is available now.
Speakers were:
- Baroness Hayman of Ullock
- Dr Richard Newton
- David Mountford
This session concluded with a panel discussion.
Watch the replay here: youtu.be/Pi8yT-zW7sk
The recording of the #NEF25 Equine Health and Welfare Updates session, chaired by Peter Laurie, is available now.
Speakers were:
- Prof Bruce McGorum
- Prof Richard Piercy
- Dr Julia Shrubb
This session concluded with a panel discussion.
Watch the video here: youtu.be/9GvIObETVng
The recording of The Importance of Feed and Forage to All #NEF25 session is available now.
Chaired by Dr Pat Harris, speakers were:
- Ruth Bishop
- Prof Meriel Moore-Colyer
- Dr Katie Williams
This session concluded with a panel discussion.
You can watch the video here: youtu.be/_fTsBnhu1h8
#NEF25 was epic for lots of reasons, so I'm delighted that so many more people got to attend face-to-face in London or online via the live stream, which was free this year thanks to our generous supporters.
We're delighted to announce that #NEF25 broke previous attendance records, with the face-to-face event at capacity and the highest-ever number of people watching the live stream from around the world.
Find out more here: www.nationalequineforum.com/record-atten...
Di Arbuthnot, the former Chief Executive of the charity Retraining of Racehorses (RoR), was announced as the winner of the Sir Colin Spedding Award at #NEF25.
The award was given in recognition of Di’s dedication to racehorse welfare.
Read more here: www.nationalequineforum.com/nef-sir-coli...
HRH The Princess Royal, National Equine Forum President, provided her remarks on the topics discussed throughout the day, and presented the 2025 Sir Colin Spedding Award at #NEF25.
The #NEF25 Memorial Lecture was dedicated to the late Kirsty Withnall, who was awarded the Sir Colin Spedding Award at NEF24 for her incredible work in the welfare sector.
Kirsty was instrumental in some of the largest welfare cases in the country.
Our #NEF25 Memorial Lecture was titled ‘Charities Working Together.' Chaired by James Hick, speakers were:
- Penny Baker
- Jana Merrett-Jones
- Christine Styles
This session concluded with questions.
Andrew and his son James gave a parent's perspective on the transformative power of equine assisted learning at #NEF25
Andrew explained how, as a non-horsey parent, he was at first skeptical, but can now stand as an advocate for equine assisted learning as a tool to transform young people's lives.
We heard from Rosie Bensley and Dr Jemma Hockley; Co-founders of Strength and Learning Through Horses, at #NEF25. Their talk was titled 'What can the equestrian sector learn from equine assisted service providers to improve accessibility?'
Sharon Gray; Education Consultant, Wholehearted Learning took us through child development stages, learning and attachment styles at #NEF25
Sharon used Jenga to explain what happens to our brains at each stage of development.
Ed Bracher; Chair, Equine Assisted Services Partnership, explained that EAS are goal-orientated activities that intentionally incorporate animals into human services, healthcare, interactions, PTSD, overcoming anxiety, confidence and self esteem at #NEF25
Helen Nicholls told us that in Paris 2024, equestrian sport was the second fastest sport to sell out tickets, outlining the sustained relevance of equestrian sport at the Games.
She concluded her #NEF25 talk saying that every rider came home with a medal, and that the pride in the flag is strong.
Our #NEF25 afternoon sessions began with a Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games review.
Chaired by Jim Eyre, Helen Nicholls (Performance Director, British Equestrian) gave the review before she and Jim took questions @britishequestrian.bsky.social
Dr Richard Newton spoke on 'Protecting our horses' health - what can we do better?' at #NEF25
Some key takeaways included the importance of assessing biosecurity risk and the recent launch of the Personalised Biosecurity risk calculator - an incredibly useful tool for horse owners and vets.
Roly Owers chaired the #NEF25 Equine Industry in a Changing World session.
Speakers were:
- Baroness Hayman of Ullock
- Dr Richard Newton
- David Mountford
This session concluded with a panel discussion.
Our final speaker in the Equine Health and Welfare session was Dr Julia Shrubb, Chair of CANTER.
Dr Shrubb signposted us to the CANTER guidelines and made two requests of the #NEF25 delegates - to take a look at the CANTER parasitic risk register and to share it with another horse owner.
Prof Richard Piercy, Professor of Comparative Neuromuscular Disease, Royal Veterinary College, delivered a talk 'Sick from Sycamore - understanding risk in Atypical Myopathy' at #NEF25.
Atypical Myopathy is caused by ingesting sycamore material containing the toxin Hypoglycin A toxin.
The first #NEF25 Equine Health and Welfare Updates speaker was Prof Bruce McGorum; Professor in Equine Medicine, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, who talked about Equine Grass Sickness.
The #NEF25 Equine Health and Welfare Updates session was chaired by Peter Laurie. Speakers were:
- Prof Bruce McGorum
- Prof Richard Piercy
- Dr Julia Shrubb
This session concluded with a panel discussion.
Our third #NEF25 speaker in our Feed and Forage session was Dr Katie Williams, Chair of ENFAR WG, British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA).
Dr Williams talked about finding a way through the soup of misinformation surrounding nutritional advice.
Next at #NEF25 we heard from Prof Meriel Moore-Colyer, who talked about finding the best forage for your horse.
Some key points included how the quality of forage is incredibly variable and the change to the biome of soaked or steamed forage.
Ruth Bishop, Chair of Feed Committee for British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA), presented on what goes into making your horse feed as safe as possible at #NEF25
The first #NEF25 session was The Importance of Feed and Forage to All. Chaired by Dr Pat Harris, the speakers were:
- Ruth Bishop
- Prof Meriel Moore-Colyer
- Dr Katie Williams
The session concluded with a panel discussion.
