Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Momentous Milestone for Horse Research

From the British Equestrian Federation:

The country’s first free source of research summaries available for the public to use has reached its first milestone, having just passed its 2,000th research upload.

Whilst research might sound like a dry subject, people within the horse world may often have asked themselves whether anyone has ever looked into how much exercise a horse needs to reduce the risks of laminitis, or the effects of rein tension on the bit position in a horse’s mouth. Within the 2,000 research summaries (abstracts) on the British Equestrian Federation’s Researching Equines Database (BEFRED, www.befred.org), you can find the indicators.

The research featured on BEFRED ranges from work carried out by undergraduates to full-blown PhDs and the status attained by each research project (in terms of whether it has been reviewed by independent authorities or not) is always made clear.

Whether your interest lies in horse anatomy, health, breeding, tack or nutrition, you will almost certainly find some related research on BEFRED. This could steer you in your next direction when you are looking to gather information on pretty much anything to do with the horse world.
The British Equestrian Federation (www.bef.co.uk) is the National Governing Body for horse sports in the UK. BEF has funded the development of BEFRED (www.befred.org) from its inception as the former World Undergraduate Equine Research Database in 1999 by Prof Graham Suggett and Arne Suggett, with the strong support of Prof Pat Harris.

BEFRED’s continued development is managed by the BEF and overseen by the BEF’s Research Consultant Dr Georgina Crossman.

Research abstracts have been uploaded by over 45 research establishments and journals and the number currently sits at 2,053. The full research papers supporting the abstracts can be obtained, often at no charge, by following the links on BEFRED.