On Wednesday, November 7th the newest building on the Penn Vet New Bolton Center Campus was dedicated. The building is the Ilona English Equine Performance Evaluation Facility (EPEF).
New Bolton Center - Primier horse health facility
The Ilona English Equine Performance Evaluation Facility has opened on the Penn Vet New Bolton Center Campus to serve as an appropriate facility for evaluating horses in winter weather conditions.
The cold, rainy weather demonstrated just why such a facility is important to the Kennett Square campus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The campus cares for large animals, and 85% of the patients seen by New Bolton Center veterinarians are horses.
“This kind of weather,” said Elizabeth Davidson, DVM, DACVS in her opening remarks, “is exactly the reason we need this building.” The facility is an 80’ x 120’ indoor arena that offers an even, dependable, appropriate riding surface for the evaluation of horses. Shelter from the weather – snow, ice, rain and searing summer sun – provides a much safer and more comfortable environment for patients, clients, clinicians, nurses and students. The building is also capable of supporting mobile technology routinely used by Sports Medicine clinicians in lameness diagnoses.
“This building will be an integral element in our Sports Medicine Program,” explained Dr. Davidson, who was a primary force behind the building and its design. “As we continue to build one of the premier equine sports medicine programs anywhere, this facility will help us to excel in patient care by giving us the ability to evaluate horses, regardless of the weather, in a safe environment.”
Ilona English, a Penn grad and breeder and owner of Summit Sporthorses and Sportponies in Ringoes, NJ, spearheaded the initiative to build an indoor arena and provided the initial funding for the project. Blue Bell equestrian Saly Glassman was another major donor.
Guests to the dedication heard opening remarks by Dr. Davidson and Dean Hendricks. They heard the stories of two very special four-legged guests, Boyd Martin’s Neville Bardos and Caitlin Silliman’s Catch a Star. Both were victims of a local barn fire, and both, following emergency care at the ICU in New Bolton Center’s Widener Hospital, are once again competing successfully at top levels. Popeye, a jet-black Westphalian sport pony stallion owned by English and ridden by Rebecca Cord, performed a dressage musical freestyle to “I’m Too Sexy.”
The EPEF was built by King Construction Company of New Holland, PA. For the footing, Dr. Davidson chose MC Ecotrack® by Martin Collins, a top-notch blend of wax-coated sand, CLOPF® fibers, and soft rubber that provides an ideal surface for sport horses, whether in hand or under saddle. Dr. Davidson pointed out, “We’re the only veterinary facility in this country to have this footing. Only two other veterinary facilities, both in England, are using it.”
The Sports Medicine team at New Bolton Center offers a wide range of specialty services that address lameness issues as well as those of the heart and airways. State-of-the-art imaging capabilities including MRI, treadmill exam, ultrasound, CT, digital radiology and nuclear scans allow the veterinarians to diagnose and treat performance limiting conditions in horses of all disciplines.
The EPEF is the initial phase of a two-phase project that will culminate in a state-of-the-art Equine Performance Clinic. The proposed complex will include holding stalls, an enclosed hard trot-up track and hard surface lunging area, diagnostic center, procedure room, client services, sophisticated farrier clinic and more. Said Dr. Davidson, “Having a multitude of surfaces allows the clinician to understand the dynamics of an abnormality. Some are more pronounced on soft footing, others on hard surfaces.”
Addressing the 75 or so guests at the reception following the dedication, in the warmth of Alumni Hall, Ilona English implored, “Join me in building phase two of this facility so that we can have the best performance evaluation facility in America.”
Glassman added, “This facility represents an example of the work that is done here. It goes beyond competency to genuine caring.” In a humorous reference to a mantra those who rode as children heard constantly, she added, “Heels down, eyes up and kick. Let’s keep it going.”
About the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine is one of the world’s premier veterinary schools. Founded in 1884, the school was built on the concept of Many Species, One MedicineTM.
Penn Vet researchers currently have the most National Institutes of Health grants of all vet schools in the country, attesting to the School’s strong basic and clinical research programs in infectious diseases, immunology, neuroscience, cancer, stem cell biology and more. For more information about the research at Penn Vet, visit www.vet.upenn.edu/Research.
The School’s Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital, located on Penn’s campus in Philadelphia, PA, houses classrooms, laboratories, medical care and one of the nation’s busiest urban veterinary emergency rooms. In addition, the school successfully integrates scholarship and scientific discovery with all aspects of veterinary medical education.
Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine is the only institution in the state of Pennsylvania graduating veterinarians. The large-animal facility, New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, PA, encompasses hospital facilities for the care of horses and food animals as well as diagnostic laboratories serving the agriculture industry.