Charities dedicated to helping injured horses in the Gambia and retraining racehorses in the UK are among those benefiting from the £60,000 raised by the ‘Vets with Horsepower’ 2017 ride.

The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust is using the £25,000 received to buy a much-needed ambulance to take sick horses and donkeys to the clinic.

“This means we can go to do our mobile clinics and travel animals back quickly in relative comfort,” said Heather Armstrong, the charity’s director.

She said the ambulance “is something we have dreamed of for so long and have never been able to afford so we are very excited about it.”

The charity hopes to have the new vehicle in operation early in the New Year.

In the UK the charity HEROS was given £10,000 to buy digital educational tools to encourage more youngsters into the racing industry.

A Clever Touch Smart board has been bought for use in the new classroom opening in early 2018.

The charity, which retrains and rehomes former racehorses, has an expanding educational programme with courses accredited by City and Guilds level one to three.

“In recent years, the rapid development of technology has transformed the way students learn and the way educators teach. The funds kindly donated by the Vets with Horsepower team will provide a fundamental element to the success of our educational material,” said Grace Muir from HEROS.

The other two charities given funds from the 2017 ride were the Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre in South Africa (£20,000) and The Smile Train (£5,000).

Continues below…

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This year the ‘Vets in Horsepower’ team are setting off in June to the Arctic circle via Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany.

The chosen charities are the Interstate Veterinary School in Dakar, Senegal, which is urgently in need of diagnostic and surgical equipment; Saving the Survivors, a rhino and elephant sanctuary in South Africa and The Smile Train.

Founded in 2010 by Professor Derek Knottenbelt after he won a Harley Davidson bike in a raffle, the “Vets with Horsepower” team have completed seven tours travelling 16,5000 miles.

A total of £560,000 has been raised so far and 325 hours of CPD talks delivered to equine veterinary practices around the world.

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The “Vets with Horsepower” charity motorbike riders are staying on home turf for their fifth tour starting on Monday (22 June).

Led by Professor Derek Knottenbelt the nine-strong team on the five-day 2015 UK and Ireland tour will be giving talks to vets and horse owners to raise funds for the Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust.

Setting off from London, the vets’ first stop is on 22 June at the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield.

On Tuesday (23 June) they are at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Dublin university; 24 June at the Beechlawn Hotel in Dunmurry, 25 June at BCF Technology in Bellshill and on 26 June at Newton Rigg College in Penrith.

Lectures are held for vets on new treatments for sarcoids, eye problems, teeth, acupuncture, and advanced imaging in equine foot lameness.

A tailored version for horse owners runs alongside the vet lectures covering topics from melanomas and strangles to colic, arthritis and gastric ulcers.

The courses are open to all with the suggested donation of £75 per vet and £25 per owner all going to the Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust.

“Our objective is to raise money to equip the new equine clinical and training centre in Banjul, Gambia for the GH& DT,” said Professor Knottenbelt.

The nearly finished centre in Maksutu has been built from the proceeds of last June’s Vets with Horsepower 2,700-mile northern European tour from London to St Petersberg and back.

“We would really like to be able to complete and equip the centre with the money we raise this year,” explains Professor Knottenbelt.

The 2015 tour is sponsored for the second year running by NFU Mutual.

Afterwards NFU Mutual offices will be collecting bits, bandages and headcollars for the “Gathering Goods for Gambia’ campaign at offices around the country.

“A healthy working animal in The Gambia can increase a farming family’s income by up to 500% and so we are delighted to sponsor this initiative and open our offices for donations of items to equip the new centre,” said Nicki Whittaker, an equine specialist at NFU Mutual.

Last year more than 1,000 items were donated. For details of offices taking equipment visit www.nfumutual.co.uk/Gambia

To book a place on a talk visit: www.facebook.com/VwHPCPD

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The rural insurer, NFU Mutual is asking horse owners and equine businesses to donate unwanted tack and equipment to help working horses in the Gambia this winter.

Pony headcollars, bits, girths and bandages are needed by The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.

There is also an urgent demand for cotton wool, bandages, dressings, iodine and Hibiscrub.

Over 40 NFU Mutual offices across the country are acting as drop-off points for donations.

“The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust is desperately seeking emergency supplies to help care for the animals it helps look after and is appealing for people to donate tack and equipment,” said Alison Cox, equine specialist at NFU Mutual.

“With many working horses and donkeys in The Gambia suffering as a result of improper care and poor nutrition, we want to remain people that there is still more they can do to help.”

NFU Mutual has made a financial donation to help The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust carry on its valuable work and earlier this year sponsored The Vets with Horsepower Northern European Ride 2014, a charity motorbike ride to raise funds for the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.

The 12-strong team left on 2 July and completed the 3,500-mile trip from London to St Petersburg and back in 18 days.

They went through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Russia and home through Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The ride was the fourth charity venture undertaken by the team of specialist vets.

“Vets with Horsepower is a team of specialists whose aim is to raise money to deliver expert care and attention to working horses, as well as to children with facial disfigurements in some of the poorest countries in the world,” said Professor Derek Knottenbelt.

“This year we are raising money for a new urban educational and clinical centre to cater for hardworking donkeys and horses. We are also looking to raise enough money to allow 500 cleft palate operations for children and infants in India.

“We are extremely grateful for NFU Mutual’s sponsorship and can’t wait to see the money put to good use.”

More information on tack collection points

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A group of equine vets have completed a 3,500-mile roundtrip from London to Russia on motorbikes.

They are raising funds for the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and the Smile Train.

The team met their leader professor Derek Knottenbelt at Royal Holloway University on 2 July, where he had give a speech at World Horse Welfare’s colloquium on working equids.

They set off afterwards, arriving home “sore” but all in one piece on 20 July.

The trip is the fourth organised by Professor Knottenbelt.

He became enthused about biking after winning a Harley Davidson in a raffle, when he was 65.

Instead of selling it he decided to learn to ride it and encouraged other vets to join him on fundraising trips.

Vet Jessica Kidd was one of his first converts and joined a dozen others in the 2014 trip.

The teams travelled to St Petersberg up the Baltic states and came back via Scandinavia.

The fundraising on the trip is bolstered by the lectures the vets give to veterinary colleges in the many countries they visited.

Mrs Kidd’s talk was on back and neck problems in horses, there were also lectures on international diseases, colic, tendon injuries and infectious diseases.

The team aim to raise over £100,000 for The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and The Smile Train.

The money raised will help build an equine treatment and educations centre in Banjul, Gambia.

“We had 18 days of hardship, but the horses and people who we raise the money for have a lifetime,” said Mrs Kidd.

The vets have raised over £380,000 since 2010 with the last trip raising funds for SPANA — H&H’s charity of the year.

They are already planning the 2015 trip, but this time are likely to stay in the UK.

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Emergency supplies are desperately needed by the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.

Horse owners are being urged to donate bandages, dressings, pony headcollars, bits and girths, iodine and Hibiscrub.

The items will be taken to the Gambia to help the trust care for the animals it looks after.

As part of the mission, on 2 July a group of vets leave London for a charity motorbike ride to raise funds for the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and the Smile Train charities.

The 12-strong team aims to complete the 2,700-mile trip from London to St Petersburg and back in 16 days.

They are going through the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Russia and home through Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The Vets with Horsepower Northern European Ride 2014 is sponsored by NFU Mutual.

The ride is the 4th charity venture undertaken by the team of specialist vets.

“We have set ourselves a challenging task but we are willing to be pushed to the limit raising money for these two undeniably worth causes,” said Prof Derek Knottenbelt.

For details about how to donate visit www.nfumutual.co.uk/gambia

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Two British vets are boosting efforts to research the deadly disease “sleeping sickness” – which is rife among horses and donkeys in The Gambia.

Trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease, spread by tsetse flies, and attacks the nervous system.

Patrick Sells and Laura Heaps set off from the UK on 25 October to drive 5,000 miles to the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust (GHDT) in Sambel Kunda.

The fundraising trip delivered a Mazda twin cab pick-up and vital veterinary medicines to the remote vet centre.

But Pat and Laura also brought home important samples of the potentially fatal disease to help scientists at Glasgow University continue their research.

“The local people take a pride in their animals and they seem to be in good condition generally but the biggest problems are infectious disease, particularly this wasting disease,” said Laura.

“It saps all the animal’s energy which is bad news in a working animal. A lot of our work at the GHDT involved getting the donkeys back into a fit state to return to work.”

As the couple drove down through Africa they stopped off at an inner city vet clinic – the American Fondouk – in Fez, Morocco.

While volunteering there for a week they saw harness injuries and trauma caused to horses, mules and donkeys by being worked in proximity with road traffic.

They also dropped off vet equipment and drugs at that clinic before travelling on, to reach Sambel Kunda on 17 November.

And after a month in the Gambia they returned to the UK on 22 December.

Laura and Pat hope to raise £10,000 for the GHDT through their trip – their total currently stands at just over £9,000.

To donate, go to www.justgiving.com/gambiaroadtrip

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