AVMA President's Award to Washington's "Rodeo Doc", Doug Corey

by Fran Jurga | 13 July 2009 | The Jurga Report

Dr. Doug Corey at work. (AVMC photo)

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is meeting in Seattle, Washington this week. Most of the news coming from the convention is about PETA's protest over the fish-handling demonstration going on at the Pike Place fish market, but there's plenty of educational and administrative work for the US veterinary profession underway. The wheels are turning!

One aspect of the convention this year that caught my eye was that our old friend Dr. Doug Corey received the AVMA's President's Award this year. That is quite an honor. Dr. Corey is a past president of the AAEP and has been active in trying to at least get some rules on the books for how livestock is treated at rodeos.

Here's an official rundown on Dr. Corey's lifetime achievements, as sent by the AVMA:

"Douglas G. Corey, DVM received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Colorado State University and is currently a partner at Associated Veterinary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington. Since entering the profession he has been active in organized veterinary medicine and has devoted much of his attention to horse welfare issues.

"Dr. Corey is a past president and board member of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association and was honored as the Oregon Veterinarian of the Year in 1997. He has served on the board of directors of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and has chaired their Research, Public Relations, Membership, Equine Welfare and 50th Anniversary Committees. He is an active member of the AVMA and has chaired the Association's Animal Welfare Committee

"Dr. Corey was instrumental in establishing a full-time animal welfare position at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and helped develop minimum care guidelines for rodeo livestock and other welfare rules and guidelines for the PRCA. He has served on the Advisory Council to the PRCA on Animal Welfare for 23 years and has chaired the organization's Veterinary Advisory Committee. He is a member of the American Horse Council's Equine Welfare Committee and serves each year as the National Final Rodeo's on call veterinarian for media relations."

I would also add to those accomplishments that on June 15, the Unwanted Horse Coalition of the American Horse Council announced that Dr. Corey will serve as Vice Chairman of the UHC.

Congratulations to Dr. Corey!

Video: Watch Dutch Dressage Team Horses Enter Quarantine for Olympics

There are two women in the world who can get away with the appellation "dressage queen" without it being an exaggeration. Both are about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to Hong Kong, and are likely to be one-two/gold-silver (ah, but which one on top?) at the Hong Kong Olympic Dressage competition next month.

The horses of both Germany's Isabel Werth and the Netherlands' Anky van Grunsven are settling into quarantine. Anky's horses are in Handel, Holland for isolation and observation before they are flown to Hong Kong. They will be in isolation for the next eight days.

Luckily for us, Dutch television filmed the departure of Anky's Salinero and Painted Blank, and you can see a little behind-the-scenes glimpse of the training center for Anky and Svef Jepsen, the Dutch chef d'equipe. The horse vans are amazing; the "Hunter Douglas" one really is related to those honeycomb blinds in your house. The company sponsors the #2 horse on the Dutch team, Hunter Douglas Sunrise, a beautiful mare ridden by Imke Schellekens-Bartels. That combination will surely be at or near the top in Hong Kong.

You will see the vet taking swabs from the nostrils of the horses before they are allowed to unload at the quarantine facility.

The Olympics will be here before we know it!