Bedmax Stable Talk

BEDMAX is talking to Dr Emmanuelle van Erck Westergren, one of Europe’s leading equine veterinary experts specialising in respiratory disease. Over the past 10 years as a consultant vet, Dr van Erck has been called from her base in Belgium to assess and treat hundreds of top level performance horses all over Europe with problems other vets have not been able to cure. A huge proportion of these horses are suffering from respiratory problems - problems Dr van Erck believes should be prevented.

BEDMAX is talking to Dr Emmanuelle van Erck Westergren, one of Europe’s leading equine veterinary experts specialising in respiratory disease. Over the past 10 years as a consultant vet, Dr van Erck has been called from her base in Belgium to assess and treat hundreds of top level performance horses all over Europe with problems other vets have not been able to cure. A huge proportion of these horses are suffering from respiratory problems - problems Dr van Erck believes should be prevented.

During the past 20 years, Dr Chris Riggs has established a world class standard of veterinary care for the 1,00 horses in training at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Sha Tin racecourse – and several hundred more on the Chinese mainland. The key to keeping horses healthy and fit, he says, is prevention, and that includes keeping health risks out of their multi-storey stables.

As Lecturer in Game and Wildlife at Newton Rigg College near Penrith, Sam Riley-Gunn is preparing the next generation of gamekeepers to lead the way in the conservation of our countryside. And as the effective head keeper of the College’s own shoot, he’s  leading the way himself towards a more sustainable way of raising game birds, using natural pine shavings in their rearing pens.

Former Kings Trooper Mick Varley has been the stable manager responsible for the care for the 80 or so top event horses at Burghley Horse Trials for the past 25 years. So what are the key factors involved in keeping these amazing horses healthy and fit in their stables under extreme competitive pressure? And what famous horse would he most like the chance to ride? You'll be surprised by his choice...

Executive Director of the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) since 2002, Claire Williams is helping support and promote UK equestrian businesses through policies and politics. She’s passionate about horses, loves riding and has some important views on bedding! But most importantly, which famous horse would she most want to ride...?

Four years ago, Gillian Carlisle was appointed Chief Executive of the British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre near Lancaster. She’s passionate about the care and rehabilitation of the hundreds of thoroughbreds that the amazing BTRC team  send on their way to second careers as eventers, hacks and dressage horses. But if she could choose one all-time favourite horse to ride in any major event, it would be…?

Our first podcast in the BEDMAX 20th Birthday series is a chat with founder and MD Tim Smalley. How did he come up with the idea of making shavings for horses on the family farm in Northumberland, via mustering cattle in Australia and making haylage? And did he have any idea when he began production in 2000 that 20 years later BEDMAX would be the UK’s bestselling brand of horse bedding, exported all over the world?