The 53rd Annual Convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners will be held in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 1-5, continuing its long history of providing premier continuing education for equine veterinarians, veterinary technicians and horse owners. More than 2,500 practitioners, students and technicians will attend the convention each year, making it the largest equine veterinary meeting in the world. The Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center will be the primary location for convention events.

Program Chair Eleanor M. Green, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ABVP, and the Educational Programs Committee have developed a lineup of the most relevant veterinary issues for today’s practitioner. The convention will feature in-depth sessions covering a broad range of topics such as infectious disease, lameness, and perinatology. Twenty-seven “How To” presentations will focus on techniques that can be applied immediately to the daily care of the horse, and seven sessions of Table Topics will allow participants to engage in dialogue with colleagues on a variety of veterinary issues.

This year’s featured speakers include Dickson D. Varner, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACT. He will deliver the Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture, “From a Sperm’s Eye View–Revisiting Our Perception of This Intriguing Cell.”

The State-of-the-Art Lecture is produced by the AAEP Foundation, Inc. with support from Platinum Performance, an AAEP Educational Partner. The popular Kester News Hour will feature new presenters Margo Macpherson, DVM, Scott Palmer, VMD, and Bonnie Rush, DVM. They will review current equine literature in reproduction, medicine, lameness and surgery. This year’s keynote speech will be delivered by motivational speaker Connie Podesta. The keynote session is sponsored by Bayer HealthCare–Animal Health Division.

Other convention highlights include:


  • Healthy Horses Workshop. Designe