By Josep Subirana (Veterinary Training Advisor)
08 Aug 2011

Petra is a perfect destination to train our vets about lameness. Horses here suffer from many lameness-related problems caused by transporting tourists from the centre of town to the archaeological site every day.

Thanks to the efforts of Brooke these horses now have shade and water, good food and veterinary care. 

Changes in people’s behaviours are slow but you can see a sizeable proportion of horse owners have now changed their attitudes. For example, the tradition of closed horse shoes has almost been completely replaced changed by open ones, which are much better for the animals.

However, despite all the positive changes, these horses are still subjected to hard work. Riding practices need to be improved and sometimes animal owners are slow to recognise and treat lameness which leads to arthritis and tendon and ligament problems.

The Brooke veterinary formation 

The participants of this training are seven vets from India, Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan.

After they complete their training, they will pass on the knowledge and skills acquired.

The training is built around a framework aiming to develop vet skills in:

• Animal welfare advocacy

• Veterinarian expertise

• Communication

• Lifelong learning

• Teaching lifelong learning

The organisation of the training by Brooke Jordan is excellent and their hospitality makes us all feel like home. The participants are completely engaged and the results could not be better.  All students demonstrate in the exams that they have made the most of the training.

The impact of this training is huge and it means that thousands of animals will receive a better deal, all over the world, not just in this spectacular archaeological site.