Rebecca S. V. Parkes

• BSc BVetMed PhD CertAVP PG Cert (Vet Ed) FHEA MRCVS
• Executive Manager at Hong Kong Jockey Club

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) support human living standards globally. However, there is little information on the effect of human perceptions of sentience (ability to feel pain and to have positive and negative emotions) on their welfare. We interviewed donkey owners (n = 332) in Pakistan to determine the relationship between human perspectives o...

Clinical skills are traditionally taught face-to-face with a focus on hands-on learning. The COVID-19 pandemic forced institutions to adjust their teaching and assessment. This project investigated how veterinary schools adapted clinical skills teaching and assessment, and identified resulting changes and innovations that will progress clinical ski...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) are vital to people's livelihoods. They are essential for carrying goods, however, globally, overloading is one of the primary welfare concerns for working donkeys. We studied mounted load carrying by donkeys and associated factors in Pakistan. A cross-sectional study of donkey owners (n = 332) was conducted, and inte...

Simple Summary Racehorses race and train in either a clockwise or anticlockwise direction and may adapt how they move accordingly, potentially creating asymmetry of movement between their left and right sides. Wireless inertial sensors measured the vertical head and pelvic movement of 307 Thoroughbreds (156 from the anticlockwise exercising Singapo...

Veterinary students often face mental health challenges due to the demanding nature of their studies and the pressures of adopting to their future profession. To address this issue, an animal-assisted education in mental health (AAE-MH) program was developed and implemented at a veterinary school in Hong Kong. The primary goal of the AAE-MH program...

Proficiency with ram breeding soundness examinations requires competency with palpation, a skill that can be difficult to teach and assess. There are limited small ruminant clinical skills models available, despite the advantages they offer in veterinary education. We developed reusable models for teaching ram breeding soundness examinations, focus...

Animal welfare is the state of an animal's body and mind and the level to which its requirements are satisfied. Animal welfare is affected by human decisions and actions. Numerous decisions concerning animals are driven by human desires to enhance their own lives, and some of these decisions may be influenced by self-interest or a strong emphasis o...

Communities of practice (CoPs) are social systems consisting of individuals who come together to share knowledge and solve problems around a common interest. For educators, membership of a CoP can facilitate access to expertise and professional development activities and generate new collaborations. This teaching tip focuses on online CoPs and prov...

About 112 million working equids are the source of income for 600 million people globally. Many equids are used for pulling loads (up to 15,000 kg per day) to transport goods. Most of them are associated with brick kilns, mining, and agriculture industries in developing countries. They may suffer from welfare issues such as overloading, being beate...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) support human living standards globally. However, there is little information on the effect of human perceptions of emotion and pain on the welfare of working donkeys. We interviewed donkey owners (n = 332) in Pakistan to determine the relationship between human perspectives on donkey sentience: emotions and the abili...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) support human living standards globally. However, there is little information on the effect of human perceptions of sentience (ability to feel pain and to have positive and negative emotions) on their welfare. We interviewed donkey owners (n = 332) in Pakistan to determine the relationship between human perspectives o...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) are important for supporting human living standards globally. However, there is little information on the effect of human perceptions of emotion and pain in working donkeys. We interviewed donkey owners (n = 332) in Pakistan to determine the relationship between human perspectives on donkey emotions and ability to fee...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) are essential for human livelihoods and are important for carrying goods. Current recommendations suggest donkeys should only carry loads of up to 50% of their own body weight. We investigated the mounted loads carried by working donkeys in Pakistan. A cross-sectional questionnaire study of donkey owners (n = 332) was...

Background Hoof morphometry, conformation and shoeing practices have all been associated with lameness in horses. Hoof morphometry in working donkeys in Pakistan has not been objectively measured. Objectives To quantitatively assess hoof morphology in donkeys, to identify factors underlying hoof morphology, and interrelationships between conformat...

Chelonians are recognized as a source of human salmonellosis through direct contact or consumption of their meat. Freshwater turtles sold for food are widely available in wet markets in Asia. In this pilot study, 50 turtles belonging to three species were randomly sampled from wet markets throughout Hong Kong. The turtles were humanely euthanised a...

Epidemiology is often a challenging course that is not well appreciated by many students learning veterinary medicine. The curriculum for this topic can sometimes be dry, difficult for students to contextualize, and heavy with statistics and mathematical concepts. We incorporated the concepts of epidemiology that are most important for practicing v...

A diverse variety of foot-fall sequences is possible in equids, but donkeys have not been studied yet. The goal of this study was to assess stride time, foot fall sequence, stance time, and swing time in walking donkeys. Nine Pakistani donkeys were filmed walking in straight lines while led in hand using a smartphone camera. Quintic Biomechanics (v...

Quality farriery is essential to ensure donkey welfare, and many intervention programs in low-middle income countries (LMICs) train farriers, and educate owners, regarding the farriery needs of donkeys. It is essential for interventional programs to understand the perspectives of all stakeholders in donkey-owning communities. A cross-sectional ques...

Working donkeys (Equus asinus) are vital to peoples livelihoods. They are essential for carrying goods, however globally, overloading is one of the primary welfare concerns of working donkeys. We studied mounted load carrying by donkeys and associated factors in Pakistan. A cross-sectional study of donkey owners (n = 332) was conducted, and intervi...

With the recent advances in deep learning, wearable sensors have increasingly been used in automated animal activity recognition. However, there are two major challenges in improving recognition performance—multi-modal feature fusion and imbalanced data modeling. In this study, to improve classification performance for equine activities while tackl...

In developing countries, there are approximately 112 million working equids (horses and donkeys) and most of them are subject to overloading. Overloading is associated with serious welfare problems. Developing a deeper understanding of safe loading capacity of equids is important for both effective performance and welfare. Carrying loads that are b...

Simple Summary The overloading of equids has become an important issue among veterinarians, trainers, riders, and welfare advocates. Increased weight carrying may have negative effects on biomechanical, physiological, biochemical, and behavioral parameters of equids during exercise, including causing gait asymmetry or lameness. It is important to d...

The recent emergence and subsequent global spread of COVID-19 has forced a rapid shift to online and remote learning at veterinary schools. Students in a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine program were taught using a real-time online platform for one semester, with recorded synchronous lectures and tutorials, virtual laboratories, and clinical skills...

During racing, injury is more likely to occur on a bend than on a straight segment of track. This study aimed to quantify the effects of galloping at training speeds on large radius curves on stride parameters and limb lean angle in order to assess estimated consequences for limb loading. Seven Thoroughbred horses were equipped with a sacrum-mounte...

Simple Summary Objective gait monitoring via GPS and motion sensors is becoming increasingly popular with racehorse trainers. This has the potential to assist in early detection of lameness and performance issues. This study sought to identify normal changes in gait in a population of two and three-year-old racehorses in order to inform future stud...

Reasons for performing study Horses run on curves during training and competition, and are often trotted in circles to assist lameness diagnosis. The effects of moving on a curve on tendon strain in the distal limb are not known. Objectives To investigate the effect of curve running on the tendons and ligaments of the equine distal limb. Study de...

Reasons for performing study Previous studies show the effect of toe or heel wedges on tendon strain but there is little understanding of the effect of other shoe types. Objectives To quantify the effect of different shoeing conditions on the strain in the superficial digital flexor tendon ( SDFT ), deep digital flexor tendon ( DDFT ), distal chec...

The high, repetitive demands imposed on polo horses in training and competition may predispose them to musculoskeletal injuries and lameness. To quantify movement symmetry and lameness in a population of polo horses, and to investigate the existence of a relationship with age. Convenience sampled cross-sectional study. Sixty polo horses were equipp...

The equine limb has evolved for efficient locomotion and high-speed performance, with adaptations of bone, tendon and muscle. However, the system lacks the ability seen in some species to dynamically adapt to different circumstances.The mechanical interaction of the limb and the ground is influenced by internal and external factors including fore-h...

Previous descriptions of the clinical features of navicular disease occurred before the widespread use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allowed a more definitive diagnosis of foot pain. The objective of this study was to compare the clinical features of horses with lesions of the podotrochlear apparatus with those with other causes of foot pain....

IntroductionThe biomechanical effects of training on gait in the Thoroughbred are not fully understood. We aimed to assess the effect of training, surface and incline on stride parameters.Methods40 two-year-old Thoroughbred racehorses entering training were recruited and followed from December 2012 until September 2013. Gait analysis was performed...

Lameness relating to the foot of the horse is common, but the majority of information concerning risk factors for injury is anecdotal. The objectives of this study were to investigate risk factors for foot-related pain in a referral population of horses, with particular reference to injury/disease of the podotrochlear apparatus (PTA), by comparison...

Visual assessment of horses' movements is subjective, affected by bias and dependent on the level of experience of the assessor. However, to date there are no data available on the ability of the human visual system to recognise (a)symmetry in moving objects. To investigate, using visual lameness assessment, the limits of human perception and the a...

The opportunities for veterinary students to practice feline abdominal palpation are limited as cats have a low tolerance to being examined. Therefore, a mixed reality simulator was developed to complement clinical training. Two PHANToM premium haptic devices were positioned either side of a modified toy cat. Virtual models of the chest and some ab...