THE BRITISH Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) has appointed Lucy Grieve as it new president for 2020/21.

Ms Grieve, MA, VetMB, MRCVS – an ambulatory assistant at Rossdales Veterinary Surgeons, Newmarket – has taken over the role from Tim Mair.

Due to congress being cancelled as a result of Covid-19 the inauguration took place virtually at the BEVA AGM on Thursday, September 10, 2020.

Ms Grieve qualified from Cambridge University in 2007 and went on to become the first diagnostic imaging intern at Rossdales. After completing this, she spent seven years as an in-house vet for Darley's pre-training facility in Newmarket, where she worked on yearlings, horses in training, rehabilitation and the occasional National Hunt horse. She returned to Rossdales in 2015 as an ambulatory assistant. Her main areas of interest are lameness, diagnostic imaging and poor performance.

She has been a member of BEVA Council since 2012, serving as chair of the Ethics and Welfare Committee and sitting on the Equestrian Sports Committee, liaising with regulatory bodies such as the BHA and FEI.

Ms Grieve was instrumental in helping to set up a pilot project earlier this year to help owners positively recognise and address weight problems. Building on this initiative will be central to her presidency:

“Obesity is one of the biggest problems facing equine welfare in the UK but a significant proportion of owners still don’t recognise that their horse is overweight, or feel motivated to take action," she said. "We have been looking at new ways to engage with horse owners and are currently assessing the results of our pilot project which revolved around careful veterinary interaction with clients on the topic during vaccination visits.”