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General John B. Castleman Award: Dr. Scott Bennett




Every year, the National Horseman staff selects an individual who demonstrates a heroic love for and dedication to the show horse sport. This year, the Castleman Award recipient has been selected for his lifelong work improving the lives, health and performance of show horses, as well as his own passion for the breed and its development. 

Through his work at both Alliance Stud and his veterinary practice, Equine Services, Dr. Scott Bennett has been at the forefront of developing technologies and treatments to improve horses’ lives, from pioneering breeding processes to developing new methods for treating lameness and improving the performance of athletic show horses. 

He has a history of heroically saving lives and bringing horses back to the show ring who were not anticipated to even survive. At Alliance, Dr. Bennett has created a breeding program that is at the forefront of our breed, producing champions at all levels.

Dr. Bennett’s veterinary career, at this point spanning more than four decades, is remarkable. He was the first to develop a viable surgical tubal patency and treatment for the equine species. He carried out the first ever embryo transfer in an American Saddlebred, forever changing our breeding programs and history of the breed. 

He developed endoscopic hysteroscopy and later laser hysteroscopic treatment of the uterus and carried out the groundbreaking first successful interspecies embryo transfer between the zebra and horse. He has pioneered treatments with interleukin receptor antagonist protein and developed treatments with stem cells that have proven to be groundbreaking in our breed, as well as explored MRI imaging in equine veterinary treatment. At the same time, he has led the wildly successful breeding program at Alliance Stud, where they currently stand many notable Saddlebred and Morgan stallions. 

Today, Dr. Bennett is known for his remarkable orthopedics and the treatments he offers to clients around the country, traveling to barns to watch horses work and provide consultations and customized treatments to suit the individual horse’s needs. He has worked through multiple personal health issues and treatments and all the while, never backed away from his calling to save horse’s lives and improve their experiences and performances. 

It is for his absolute and unending dedication to bettering our animals’ lives that National Horseman has selected Dr. Scott Bennett for the 2020 Castleman Award. 

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