BVSc (Hons) (Melb), MS, FACVSc (Specialist in Equine Surgery), Veterinarian
Dr Ian C Fulton is a male Veterinarian.
Ian was born in Ballarat and developed his desire to become a veterinary surgeon from his late father Dr Len Fulton. Len joined Charles Pope in 1954 to form a strong business that has become the Ballarat Veterinary Practice (BVP). Ian graduated from Melbourne University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science with 1st class honours. Following graduation, Ian worked as a private practitioner for one year in Kyabram and two years in Adelaide before undertaking a 3 year Residency in Equine Surgery at Michigan State University (MSU) in 1987. While a surgical resident at MSU Ian completed a Master of Science degree with his thesis titled "Laryngeal reinnervation for the treatment of laryngeal hemiplegia (roaring) in horses".
In 1990, Ian returned as an associate at the BVP and began working as a surgeon at the small equine facility at the Dowling Forest Racetrack. A partnership in the practice followed in 1993. Following examinations in 1992, Ian became a Member of the Equine Surgery chapter in the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS). Ian then registered as a Specialist in Equine Surgery in 2009 after completing his Fellowship examinations of the ANZCVS.
With support and input from the original partnership group (Kim McKellar, Bruce Sidebottom, Peter Everist, Richard Lawrence) and current partners Brian Anderson and Andrew Cust, Ian has helped build and develop the equine clinic into the facility that exists today. The practice became the first facility in Victoria to build a nuclear medicine facility to allow scintigraphy (bone scanning) of horses in 1999 when Ian installed a second hand Phillips single head unit. This has now been replaced with a purpose-built MIE equine machine from Germany, which again was a first in Australia in 2010.
Ian has a special interest in upper airway surgery of horses. In particular the technique of laryngeal reinnervation which was developed following the research during his Masters Degree at MSU. The original technique involves transplanting a nerve into the muscle that opens the larynx during racing. The surgical technique has been refined over the years with input from ongoing research with Ian's assistance at MSU and in collaboration with the French National Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort and Dr Fabrice Rossignol at Grosbois Equine facility in Paris. Ian has been a frequent contributor as a speaker at conferences both in Australia and overseas on respiratory surgery as well as other surgical topics.
In 2011, Ian and Brian Anderson, co-authored the chapter on the equine larynx in the prestigious surgical textbook Equine Surgery edited by Jorg Auer and John Stick. From 1999 to 2012 Ian travelled to Singapore, Macau and Kuala Lumpur on a regular basis to perform surgery and consult for the champion Asian trainer Malcolm Thwaites. Ian became a member of the Ballarat Turf Club Committee in 2004. While President from 2011 to 2015, the running Ballarat Cup moved to a weekend, initially on a Sunday but eventually a stand-alone meeting on a Saturday. The establishment of the reverse direction 2 year-old race for the Magic Millions group was established by Ian and the Committee at that time.
The BVP has had a long involvement with the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) with Len Fulton being President of the national body in 1979. Ian became an executive member of Equine Veterinarians Australia (EVA), a special interest group of the AVA in 2010. In 2015 Ian was president of the EVA and in 2020 was awarded a Fellowship of the AVA for his services to the group. In July 2020 Ian retired from the partnership of the BVP and is now providing specialist surgical and clinical services 2-3 days per week through his new business, Fulton Equine Consulting.
