Sharon’s passion for horses was first noticed when she was caught riding a bush horse at 4 years of age. She would climb up the front leg and haul herself up onto the back via the mane proud as a peacock. She still doesn’t know to this day how she survived, but by 14 she was working with racehorses and riding competitively in the show ring and winning up to Open Minor Royal classes by 18. Her desire to understand the biomechanics of the horse led her down the path of dissections and research and if that wasn’t enough, she built horse skeletons where students could move the limbs so to have a better understanding of the leg in motion. This became a critical factor when she rehabilitated or assisted in the selection of horses for performance riders in Australia and overseas. Her keen eye for detail saw her involved with horses that became or were already the Australian Champion in 8 different disciplines, with some competing at WEG and or the Olympics. With Equine degrees and a number of other qualifications in tow, Sharon’s research and published scientific papers have seen her lecture around the World as a key note or guest speaker at numerous events. So with this in mind, Sharon will be speaking on one of the current topics associated with her research - Equine Complex Vertebral Malformation (ECVM), or the Congenital Malformation of the 6th and 7th Cervical Vertebrae.