January 17, 2017
Primary topic to focus on climate change and horses
(Washington, DC)- On February 13th at 3:00 pm ET, the American Horse Council (AHC), will host its first quarterly webinar for 2017 on “Climate Change.”
“While the cause of climate change is of course a debated subject, there is no debate that climate change effects animals, sometimes drastically,” said AHC President Julie Broadway. “We wanted to educate people on understanding how your horses may be effected by these climate changes, and how you can be better prepared to keep your horses safe and comfortable with these changes.”
David Herring, Director of Communication & Education at the NOAA Climate Program Office will be the featured speaker. Mr. Herring will discuss how they see changes in the weather affecting not only horses themselves, but also the areas in which they live, show, and are ridden. “Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and record-breaking snow and rain have devastated farms around the country recently,” said Mr. Herring. “We want people to be aware of how these potential changes in the climate can drastically affect their animals and their well-being.”
Dr. Karen Davison, Equine Nutritionist and Director of Purina Animal Nutrition’s Equine Technical Services team will give an overview of how horses nutritional needs change with the weather. “It’s important to be able to teach people what we currently know to be the best ways to feed horses,” said Dr. Davison, “With changes in the weather that are sometimes drastic, we are learning and investigating new ways to be able to feed horses better.”
Also being spotlighted will be the Back Country Horsemen of America (BCHA), with Jim McGarvey, Executive Director of BCHA giving an overview of the work that they do. Most recently, the AHC worked with BCHA toward the successful passing of the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act. Finally, AHC’s Director of Health & Regulatory Affairs Cliff Williamson will give a short overview on regulatory issues that the AHC is currently working on.
The webinar is open to both AHC members and non-members—we encourage everyone to attend! To register for the webinar, please click here. If you have any questions, please contact American Horse Council at ahc@horsecouncil.org. We look forward to having you join us for the first of our quarterly webinars!
