They met in Italy to exchange information about reproduction, sports medicine, infectious diseases, transportation, and surgery. The more than 300 delegates from 29 different countries, including Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States, heard topics addressed in Italian and English. With so many different topics and time zones represented, it was not surprising that the common language was equine.

At the fifth congress of the World Equine Veterinary Association (WEVA), one slide put before the group by Marianne Sloet of Utrecht University in the Netherlands was demonstrative of how much there is in common among horses around the world, even if the languages and terminology sometimes are a bit different. In talking about common skin diseases, she showed a picture of a horse’s white fetlock with what we in the United States would call dew poisoning. Around this one photo were about 10 different names used throughout the world for this one disease.

Some of the problems addressed at WEVA were of concern only in specific parts of the world, such as grass sickness, but for the most part, it was amazing how similar the basic diseases and problems are among horses.

This year’s conference was organized by Prof. Roberto Busetto and others from the Italian veterinary association. Peter Timoney, FRCVS, PhD, president of the WEVA and director of the Gluck Equine Research Center in Kentucky, said this year’s congress was, “The most successful conference we’ve had