Practice Owner from Texas Joins AAEP Board of Directors

Robert (Rob) Franklin, DVM, DACVIM, owner of The Foundry Veterinary Services in Weatherford, Texas, and a founding director of the Equitarian Initiative, has joined the board of directors of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP).

Dr. Franklin was installed during the Dec. 10 President’s Luncheon at the AAEP’s 60^th Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. His three-year term will expire in 2017.

A 1999 graduate of Texas A&M University, Dr. Franklin established and managed intensive care units in equine referral hospitals in Australia, Florida and Texas prior to starting his equine consulting practice. He is co-founder and past president of the Texas Equine Veterinary Association, past president of the Marion (County, Fla.) Veterinary Medical Association and a former director of the Florida Association of Equine Practitioners and Ocala Equine Conference.

As a founding director of the Equitarian Initiative, Dr. Franklin travels to Central America several times per year in support of Equitarian projects. He additionally supports working equids as co-founder of Animal Stewards International, which launched FullBucket Animal Nutrition to “pay it forward” by providing a nutritional supplement product to an animal in need in an underdeveloped country for every product sold.

An AAEP member since 1998, Dr. Franklin has served on the Educational Programs Committee and the Western Performance Horse Drug Rules Task Force and Regional Equine Veterinary Organizations Task Force. He has published numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, and has presented at national and international veterinary conferences.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 9,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.