Our Conference

Conference Chair – Dr Neil Hudson MA VetMB PhD DEIM DipVetClinStud PFHEA FRCVSMP

Dr Neil Hudson is a veterinary surgeon who has worked in mixed practice in the UK and Australia. Neil has a PhD in Equine Gastroenterology and is an RCVS Diplomate in Equine Internal Medicine (DEIM).

Neil is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

In 2019 Neil was elected as a Member of Parliament and is the only vet in the House of Commons. He sits on the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA)  Select Committee and has instigated Inquiries on subjects including Companion Animal Welfare, Rural Mental Health and Food Security. Neil is Vice-Chair of the APPG for Animal Welfare and member of the APPG for the Horse.

Neil is a member of BEVA and in 2021 was nominated by members as one of the BEVA 60 Faces Initiative. In 2021/22 Neil was a member of the BHA Steering Group on the use of the whip in horse racing. 

Ruth Dancer

Ruth Dancer is a Director at environmental sustainability consultancy White Griffin, which specialises in equestrianism and horse racing.

Ruth was formerly a commercial operations specialist at some of the best known sporting events and venues in the world, including the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, England Rugby World Cup 2015, Formula 1 Bahrain, Wembley Stadium and Goodwood.

Ruth retrained in 2016 to follow her passion for the environment and has since then been instrumental in driving the sustainability agenda in the sector, with work including the creation of the BHA Environmental Sustainability report, York Racecourse’s leading environmental strategy and the 2023 BEF and Horse Sport Ireland 2023 report.    

Senator Pippa Hackett 

Senator Pippa Hackett is Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity. She was appointed to this role in June 2020, only the third senator in the history of the state to be elevated to Cabinet.  

Senator Hackett was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Éireann in a by-election on 1 November 2019 and was re-elected in 2020.  She is also a former member of Offaly County Council. 

She holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick. 

Minister Hackett has four children and along with her husband Mark, she runs a farm (Moat House Farm) near Tullamore in Co Offaly.  They produce organic beef and sheep, while they also have some bloodstock and forestry.  

Moat House Farm is situated on the site of a 12th century Norman motte and bailey identified on the ordnance survey map as “The Moat of Down”, hence the business name. 

Dr Alphonse Sene – Director of Equine Development, Ministry of Livestock and Animal Production in Senegal 

Dr Alphonse Sene studies veterinary medicine at the Ecole Inter-Etats des Sciences et Medecine Veterinaires (EISMV), University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar. He qualified in 2002.

Dr Sene joined the Ministry of Livestock and Animal Production in 2005 as Stud Supervisor and the Head of Equestrian activities division in 2011. In June 2019 he became the Director of Equine Development. He is involved in many aspects of equine development, welfare and policy in Senegal, as well the technical and administrative management of stud farms, the monitoring, and control of horse racing.

Dr Sene held the position of Vice President in charge of veterinary matters of the National Horse Racing Management Committee of Senegal between 2010 to 2018 and is the Animal Doping Focal Point of the National Anti-Doping Organisation of Senegal. He is a long-time supporter of World Horse Welfare’s equine development projects in Senegal.

Carol Laidlaw

Carol Laidlaw is a Lead Grazing Ranger working for the National Trust at one of Britain’s oldest and most bio-diverse nature reserves, Wicken Fen in East Anglia. Joining the Wicken team in 2001, Carol has managed the growth and establishment of the conservation grazing herds there. The herds of free-living horses and cattle are an integral part of Wicken’s landscape scale nature recovery project, which was started in 1999. Her role typically focuses on the welfare and upkeep of the animals, but additionally includes some practical conservation, consultancy work and engagement.

Carol has also completed an MPhil, researching the land-use, maintenance behaviours and social structures of the horses and cattle at Wicken.

Jenny Rogers

Jenny Rogers is Manager and Trustee of Ash Rescue Centre which cares for elderly rescue horses, runs a nature conservation site and rehabs wildlife. Jenny gained an HND in Amenity Horticulture and qualified as an Equine Herbalist at the NCTM. Having worked mainly in the creation of Wildflower meadows and sustainable gardens.

With 35 years experience with horses, observing, studying and doing a variety of courses and clinics on everything from herd behaviours to land management, it is great to bring this practical knowledge into Ash Rescue Centre.

Ten years ago she began a small project of combining the needs of 10 elderly horses, with that of sustaining the natural environment that was essential to ensuring wildlife. Given the complexities of the differing needs of wildlife and domesticated horses many believed at the time this was not possible.

Ten years later Ash Rescue Centre stands proudly as an example of how this can be achieved. The charity currently cares for 32 elderly and very healthy domesticated horses on 100 acres, but perhaps more importantly Ash Rescue Centre now has a diverse and growing wildlife population and an environment suitable for medicinal plants to grow and flourish.

Discussion Panel Chair – Nick Powell

Nick Powell is a double Royal Television Society (RTS) award winner. Nick is a Sky Sports News presenter and the Sky News Sports Editor. He joined Sky from Yorkshire Television in 1996.

With his Grand National coverage spanning two decades, Nick has an eye for racing but enjoys most sports. He studied Russian and German at Bradford University before completing a journalism post-grad at Cardiff.

Ingmar de Vos, President, FEI

A Belgian native and fluent in Dutch, English and French, Ingmar De Vos holds Masters degrees in political science, international relations and European law.

Having started his career as an advisor to the Belgian Senate, De Vos has since amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience across the equestrian sector, having held senior roles in the administration, governance and management of equestrian sport at national, regional and international level for over 30 years, including Secretary General at the Belgian Equestrian Federation, at the European Equestrian Federation which he co-founded, and at the FEI prior to being elected the 13th FEI President on 14 December 2014. He is currently in his third and final term, having run uncontested in 2018 and 2022.

De Vos is only the fourth FEI President to become an IOC Member and under his leadership, the FEI as an organisation has earned a strong standing in the Olympic community for its sustainability initiatives, advancing animal welfare, championing gender diversity, equality and inclusion, as well as promoting youth sport.

David Rendle BVSc MVM CertEM(IntMed) DipECEIM FRCVS

David Rendle is a specialist in Equine Internal Medicine who after 20 years in equine practice, now works as an independent consultant in equine medicine and therapeutics.

He is the immediate Past President of The British Equine Veterinary Association, chair of BEVAs Health and Medicines committee and was involved in the establishment of BEVA’s own sustainability working group.

He has particular interests in sustainable parasite control and antimicrobial stewardship. He also lives and works on a 200 acre upland farm on the edge of Exmoor National Park where he keeps a flock of Dorset sheep in addition to 2 horses and is implementing a number of ecological and regenerative farming initiatives. 

Agata Rzekęć

Agata is an agronomy engineer, working for the French Institute for Horse and Riding since 2019. Her work focuses on the environment and the sustainable development of the equine sector, which covers a wide field: resource management, adaptation of the sector to climate change, climate change mitigation, resilience, and more. As part of this, Agata has worked on an environmental footprint calculator adapted to equine farms, allowing equine owners to know their greenhouse emissions in order to reduce them, but also to raise awareness among the public.

Her engineering thesis concerned the environmental assets of equines, and she has continued working on this subject with the European Horse Network since, resulting in a number of publications on the green assets of equines. Since presenting her work at the first meeting of the European Parliament’s horse group in 2019 in Brussels she has continued to run various awareness-raising campaigns, most recently producing three videos with three State Studs: Haras du Pin in France, Marbach State Stud in Germany and Lipica State Stud in Slovenia.

Jenny Fernando

Jenny joined World Horse Welfare in 2019 as the Director of Finance and Administration.  She is a Chartered Accountant with more than 15 years experience working with and within the charity sector, holding various roles at Diabetes UK, VSO and Breast Cancer Care. 

Currently leading on World Horse Welfare’s sustainability initiatives, Jenny chairs the Charity’s Environmental Impact Working Group, whose initiatives to date include calculating and monitoring the Charity’s overall carbon footprint, bringing on board electric vehicles and increasing tree and hedge planting at the farms.  The interplay of equine, human and environmental welfare is a particular interest of hers. 

Jenny has a life long love of horses and owns a chestnut gelding called Sox who she explores the Norfolk countryside with.