VETS WITH HORSEPOWER - GETTING TOGETHER FOR THE GREATER GOOD
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    • Dr Dietrich von Schweinitz
    • Dr Jenny Croft
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    • Dr Ed Whittle
    • Trevor Croft
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    • Veterinary and equine suppliers >
      • SKOPES menswear
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      • Equine Medical Solutions
      • Ariat
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    • Your company here?
Our sponsors are vital to our cause. If you are able to help us change lives, please get in touch. There are several sponsor packages available, and we will always try to accommodate your requests.

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        “We are really proud to be GOLD sponsors of Vets with HORSEPOWER because it’s an amazing concept that helps real people in real situations with targeted and defined objectives.  Our sponsorship actually delivers without waste or other losses!”  MKK, Equine Solutions UK Ltd
        "We support the HORSEPOWER project because they bring real benefits to the charitable objectives without losses or restrictions.  We also benefit from exposure to practitioners in countries where they travel.  It is also fun and sends a positive message to the wider community of vets and others who care about people and animals in different places." 
Henrik Pederson, Kruuse Ltd. 
         ​“We have been involved with Horsepower since the early days, and we are totally supportive of the need to give back to the world from which we make a living. We see so many examples of animals treated badly and also the importance of the health of animals on people’s lives why would we not support Horsepower. This amazing group of equine vets go out of their way to educate and help advance the skills and interest of tomorrow’s leading vets to continuing making that difference. At the same time, they raise essential funds for leading charities. They are a quirky crew, who arrive on motorbike and passionately believe in the charitable work they are doing. It’s easy to do nothing in this world and allow others to do it – these vets get on their bikes and make it happen – they are so inspiring and we see significant satisfaction in their success, a really easy reason why we support them.” 
avin Mitchell, MD BCF Technology Ltd.
Am I just sponsoring a holiday?
If you think your sponsorship is going towards a motorbike trip for a few vets, you've misunderstood us. That's NOT what we are all about. 
We are a FUNDRAISING charity - our tours raise funds and every penny goes to charities that we select each year because they can efficiently improve many lives around the world with that money - for both humans and other animals. We select charities that do not just use the funds for running costs - the money goes to a specific project like a new building or equipment. Have look at our 'supported charities' page if you're not sure.
Is it a holiday then? Certainly not. It does take a lot of our time to prepare notes and lectures, and then deliver them on the locations. In our normal working lives, the CPD organisers pay us or often our bosses for our time, flights, hotels etc and because of this CPD for vets is not cheap. For the Vets with Horsepower project, we give up our own time to prepare, use our holiday allowance (or miss out on income for the freelancers) to travel and deliver the lectures, do not need flights because we use our own motorbikes with our own associated maintenance costs, tax etc to get to the venues and stay in budget accommodation (sharing rooms to save more money) or stay in colleagues' houses when they have offered that. All of this keeps the cost of delivering the lectures much lower than it normally would be, and ensures all the money raised can go to the charities.
Still not convinced? In 2018 we had the lovely company of Lloyd and Cindy Massey from the USA. They were not speakers, but paid much more than their own way to join us, and have been with us on the whole trip. We asked Lloyd what he thought of this "holiday":
          ​I joined HP 8 to help give ride support and to generate videos from the riders’ perspective. Most of my footage has been of fantastic scenery and great roads ridden. As a new support member and a very experienced traveler and rider I can tell anyone that this is not a holiday or vacation. I have a better understanding of the efforts and mindset of these vets, and the crazy long days with little rest.
 
Conversations and debate centre around the two primary goals: educating veterinary surgeons, technicians/nurses and owners about higher levels of horse care, medicine and ownership… or raising money for the charities. Tough decisions between raising more money at one location that can help children with cleft palates, or educating owners and doctors in a less lucrative but more educationally needy place. 
 
Lavish lifestyle at the charity expense? I paid my own expenses as did everyone else: Airline tickets, hired (rented) motorcycle, hotels, meals, gas-all out of my/our pockets. The vets used unpaid time off or took holiday time away from their family. Sleep was at cheap hotels or provided by local vets, a few nice meals and great scenery were offset by hotdogs eaten at a motorway gas station on days we rode 500 miles over 12 hours to get to the next lecture. Most days began at 6 am and ended near midnight. Maybe 30 minutes of that was sight seeing, while waiting in traffic.
 
With thousands of charities screaming for people’s generous donations how do you differentiate yourself? How do people know your true intentions? These vets differentiate themselves by riding motorcycles between venues and lectures and lecturing in riding gear. They do not sell wrist bands or trinkets, but instead rely in corporate donors and private contributions. They keep the expenses down by living cheaply and paying their own way. 
 
What do they give back? Every penny raised. Hundreds of owners, nurses/technicians and doctors that are better educated and motivated to stay up on the best care for horses.
 
What do these vets get for their time and effort? Sore muscles, motorcycles that need servicing, credit card bills and mostly a tremendous sense that they have helped educate the world and improve the lives of less fortunate animals and children around the world.
 
Would I do this for a holiday next year? No way, not in a million years. Would I use my holiday and money to help out a group of world class veterinarians and fine people make the world a better place? In a heart beat.
 
Lloyd Massey
Nipomo, Ca. USA

We would love to keep in touch with you!


Charity Registration No. SCO46720
Donations via DonorBox
  • Home
    • History and goals
    • Previous tours >
      • 2024 Europe
      • 2023-Scandinavia
      • Virtual tour 2021
      • 2019 Spain and Portugal
      • 2018 Arctic Circle
      • 2017 Eastern Europe
      • 2016 South Africa
      • 2015 British Isles
      • 2014 Northern Europe and St Petersburg
      • 2012 Southern Europe and Casablanca
      • 2011 British Isles
      • 2010 United Kingdom
  • 2025 The Italian Job
    • Lodi
    • Perugia
    • Sassari
    • Pisa
    • Zürich
    • Saarlouis
  • HP team
    • Prof Derek Knottenbelt
    • Dr Jessica Kidd
    • Prof Roger Smith
    • Dr Caroline Hahn
    • Prof David Bardell
    • Prof Davide Zani
    • Prof Gunther van Loon
    • Dr Mike Hewetson
    • Dr Dietrich von Schweinitz
    • Dr Jenny Croft
    • Dr Sanne Wilmink
    • Dr Ed Whittle
    • Trevor Croft
  • Supported charities
  • Sponsors
    • Veterinary and equine suppliers >
      • SKOPES menswear
      • iMV Imaging
      • Equine Medical Solutions
      • Ariat
      • Podoblock
    • Your company here?