Dr. Lynn Hillyer:

There are times when people want to assess welfare, in particular, or the clinical condition of horses. We run various checks and balances on the health and welfare of our horses. This includes making sure there are veterinary checks at home. It is important that we have the wherewithal to put a vet onto a yard to assess a horse. Let us say a horse finished lame last time at a race meeting. That horse will be picked up and examined on a specific, targeted stable inspection visit next time round. We have to have the expertise, knowledge and professional vets involved for that type of thing. We do not want to deploy them unnecessarily to do what I would call a very good horsemanship-type role, which is where veterinary assistants come in. Veterinary assistants are experts in their fields in horsemanship but that is different from a veterinary surgeon.