20 August 2024

‘If we don’t achieve a good clean environment, we don’t train winners’

Equine industry ambassadors have shared words of wisdom as part of the 10 Practical Steps to Protect Equine Health video series. One such ambassador is David Roche, Assistant Trainer at record-breaking Henry De Bromhead Racing.

Produced as a collaborative effort by Teagasc, The Irish Equine Centre and University College Dublin’s School of Veterinary Medicine, the series encompasses videos on: stable hygiene; separation of different categories of stock; quarantine protocols; hygienic storage of concentrate feed; ventilation; paddock hygiene; forage and bedding hygiene; water quality; hygiene in high traffic areas; and providing a clean ‘breathing zone’.

It was in the latter video, available to view below, that David Roche explained: “Our main aim is to train winners. For us to achieve good results, we need a good clean environment. We need good hay, our bedding is dust free and we need plenty of fresh air.”

He added: “If we don’t achieve a good clean environment, we don’t train winners, we don’t have runners, our vet bills go up, and that’s not what we want – we’re here to train winners.”

Elsewhere in the video, Vivienne Duggan, Associate Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, UCD, discusses asthmatic conditions, while Wendy Conlon, Equine Specialist at Teagasc, and Alan Creighton, Head of Environment and Nutrition at the Irish Equine Centre, provide key tips on minimising dust while cleaning, bedding and feeding forages such as hay to equines.

The full video is available to view below:

Also read: ‘10 Practical Steps to Protect Equine Health’ Video Series Launched

The full 10 videos in the series are available to view here.