Emmanuelle Van Erck – Shaping Modern Equine Sports Medicine Practice
DVM, PhD, ECEIM, ECVSMR
In the highly specialised world of equine sports medicine, few names carry the scientific credibility, clinical influence, and international respect of Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck.
A dual European board-certified specialist, internationally recognised researcher, and trusted advisor to elite equestrian organisations, Emmanuelle Van Erck has spent nearly three decades shaping how performance, health, and welfare are understood in the modern sport horse.
Her work sits at the intersection of rigorous science and real-world athletic performance, where marginal gains, early detection, and evidence-based decision-making can define the difference between longevity and loss in elite equine athletes.
Foundations in Veterinary Excellence
Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck graduated in 1996 from the École nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort (EnvA) in France, one of Europe’s most prestigious veterinary institutions. From the earliest stages of her career, she demonstrated a clear commitment to academic depth alongside clinical relevance.
She went on to complete a PhD at the University of Liège (Belgium), focusing on equine respiratory function and disease, a field central to athletic capacity and competitive success. This doctoral work laid the scientific foundation for what would become a lifelong focus on understanding how subtle physiological changes influence performance at the highest level.
Her early postgraduate experience included internal medicine training at the veterinary school of Lyon, followed by a return to the Equine Sports Medicine Centre in Liège, where she began refining her expertise in performance diagnostics and exercise physiology.
Shaping European Equine Sports Medicine
From 2006, Emmanuelle Van Erck played a key role in developing the equine sports medicine unit at CIRALE in Normandy, one of Europe’s most respected referral centres. As a senior clinician, she worked with horses across disciplines, racing Thoroughbreds, elite endurance horses, and top-level sport horses, helping redefine how “poor performance” is investigated and managed.
Rather than treating performance failure as a single clinical problem, her approach emphasised systems thinking: respiratory efficiency, cardiovascular function, gastrointestinal health, biomechanics, behaviour, and training load were all considered interconnected components of athletic success.
This philosophy would later become a defining feature of her independent work.
Founder of the Equine Sports Medicine Practice (ESMP)
In January 2010, Emmanuelle Van Erck founded the Equine Sports Medicine Practice (ESMP), an ambulatory referral service based in Belgium. ESMP was designed to deliver advanced internal and sports medicine diagnostics directly to elite competition horses wherever they train or compete.
Today, ESMP operates across Europe and internationally, supporting national teams, international riders, and high-performance training programmes. The practice is known for its meticulous diagnostic protocols, field-based exercise testing, advanced endoscopy, echocardiography, and long-term athlete monitoring.
Under her leadership, ESMP has grown into a multidisciplinary team that blends clinical excellence with active research, ensuring that each case contributes to broader scientific understanding.
Dual Diplomate Status and Professional Leadership
Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck holds diplomate status with both the European College of Equine Internal Medicine (ECEIM) and the European College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation (ECVSMR), a rare and highly respected dual certification that reflects exceptional expertise across medical and performance domains.
Beyond clinical practice, she plays a significant leadership role within the profession. She is the first woman elected President of the Belgian Equine Practitioners Society (BEPS), where she actively shapes veterinary standards, education, and policy. She has also served for many years as team veterinarian for the Royal Belgian Federation of Equestrian Sports, appointed in 2015.
At the international level, she is a recognised expert for the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) and contributes to expert committees, including work related to prohibited substances and doping , areas where science, regulation, and athlete welfare must align precisely.
Research Impact and Academic Contribution
Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck is the author or co-author of more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications, with research spanning respiratory disease, exercise physiology, cardiovascular function, gastric health, and performance prediction.
Her work is widely cited for its practical relevance, particularly studies that link subclinical disease to altered performance and behaviour. A notable example includes her award-winning research on dynamic respiratory videoendoscopy in ridden sport horses, which earned the BEVA Trust Peter D. Rossdale Open Award following publication in Equine Veterinary Journal.
In addition to journal publications, she is a co-editor of the third edition of Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, the definitive reference text in the field. Her editorial and chapter contributions ensure that emerging science is translated into clinical practice for veterinarians worldwide.
A Sought-After International Speaker
Known for her clarity, scientific integrity, and real-world perspective, Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck is a regular speaker at major international veterinary conferences, including AAEP and other global forums. Her lectures consistently bridge research findings with practical application, making complex physiology accessible and actionable for clinicians, trainers, and researchers alike.
She is particularly respected for her willingness to challenge established assumptions, advocating for earlier detection, better monitoring technologies, and a welfare-first approach to elite sport.
Vision for the Future of Equine Performance
Looking ahead, Dr. Emmanuelle Van Erck is deeply engaged in the future of performance monitoring. She has been an early advocate for on-horse telemetry, wearable technology, and data-driven analysis, recognising their potential to identify risk, guide training decisions, and protect athlete welfare.
She also sees growing opportunity in artificial intelligence and longitudinal data analysis, not as replacements for clinical judgment, but as tools to deepen understanding of equine physiology and behaviour over time.
Why Emmanuelle Van Erck Matters
What sets Emmanuelle Van Erck apart is not only her credentials, publications, or leadership roles, it is her ability to integrate them seamlessly. She is a clinician who researches, a scientist who practices, and a leader who remains grounded in daily work with horses.
Her influence is felt across disciplines, borders, and generations of veterinarians. Whether advising international federations, guiding elite performance programmes, or shaping the next edition of a foundational textbook, she continues to define what modern equine sports medicine should be: evidence-based, athlete-centred, and relentlessly forward-thinking.
For anyone seeking insight into the future of equine performance, welfare, and sports medicine, Emmanuelle van Erck-Westergren is not just a speaker worth hearing, she is a voice shaping the direction of the field itself.
Emmanuelle Van Erck is a faculty speaker in the Equine Lameness Program.
If you wish to elevate your lameness diagnostic skills and learn directly from her, Gabriel Manso Díaz and Casper Lindegaard, make sure to explore the Equine Lameness Program.
This the most comprehensive, case-based training pathway designed to help veterinarians make a measurable difference to the horses in their care.
