Construction of $10 Million Equine Health Centre Begins

Construction has officially begun on the University of Adelaide's new $10 million Equine Health and Performance Centre at the Roseworthy Campus.

The centre - part of the Veterinary Health Centres [1] at the University's School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences [2] - will be essential for equine teaching and research in the veterinary program, as well as providing first-opinion and referral veterinary clinical services to the South Australian public. It will be a significant facility for diagnosis and treatment of illness or poor performance in horses and for providing expert advice to improve the health of performance, pleasure and racing animals. "This new centre is a further $10 million investment in the future of the Roseworthy Campus, building on the $37 million already injected into the campus by the University," says the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide, Professor Warren Bebbington [3]. "It will play a critical role in our gaining accreditation of the School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, helping the School to rate among the very best in the nation." Professor Kym Abbott [4], the Head of the School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, says: "Having a dedicated Equine Health and Performance Centre is a major commitment not only to staff and students, but also to the equine community and veterinary profession in South Australia." The new centre will include a range of outstanding facilities, such as: - airconditioned intensive care stalls for horses, with dedicated stalls for mares and foals;
- triage, diagnostic and outpatient areas;
- a high-power imaging suite for X-rays and ultrasound examinations;
- state of the art surgical theatres and anaesthesia rooms;
- teaching rooms with direct visual access to the surgeries;
- intensive care facilities;
- an isolation area for horses with infectious diseases;
- a reproduction facility. "Importantly, the new centre is not just dedicated to treating horses with medical or surgical conditions - our equine health specialists will also work with healthy performance horses, an expert service which has not previously been available to horse owners in this state," Professor Abbott says. "The new centre will build on our existing modern facilities and specialised services, which include a veterinary centre for small animals and mobile services for horses and production animals."