ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
to Colic Surgeries
NEW High-Performance
Riding Simulator
Predicting Catastrophic
RACEHORSE INJURIES
2022
SPECIAL ANNUAL ISSUE OF CANADIAN HORSE JOURNAL
HORSE INDUSTRY
The
KEEPING HORSES
Canada’s Unregulated Horse Industry
CHANGES
BOUNCE BACK FROM
Get Ready to Act Quickly
Wild West BURNOUT
OJIBWE
SPIRIT
HORSES Little Horses of the Big Woods
The Mystery of
STRINGHALT
as the
Climate
EMERGENCY! The MAGIC of
SYNDICATES COLT STARTING COMPETITIONS Good, Bad, or a Bit of Both?
The Many Hats of a
Horse Show
JUDGE
HEALTH
The
WILD West
Navigating Canada’s Unregulated Horse Industry By Tania Millen
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Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
A
cross Canada, non-veterinarians offer a potpourri of services, including massage, chiropractic, farrier work, homeopathy, and more. But these non-veterinarian service providers may be practicing veterinary medicine illegally under provincial veterinarian
acts. Also, few regulatory organizations oversee non-veterinarian practitioner training, certify expertise, or offer recourse if horses suffer, and provincial veterinary organizations only pursue non-veterinarian service providers when horse owners complain. Almost anyone can call themselves a farrier, equine massage therapist, bodyworker, or other equine service provider. So, how do horse owners know who to hire without trundling down the expensive and potentially hazardous road of trial and error? This article wades into the morass and clarifies which equine services are considered veterinary medicine across Canada, which non-veterinarians are regulated and insured, and how horse owners can decide who to hire.
PHOTO: PAM MACKENZIE
Interpreting Regulations Provincial veterinarian acts define what is considered “veterinary medicine” in each province, thereby limiting the services that non-veterinarians can provide to horses. Every act is different, and the interpretation and enforcement of each act depend on the provincial veterinary organizations (called “colleges”). Here’s an overview: In Eastern Canada, Quebec’s Veterinary Surgeons Act appears to be the most explicit, and it’s enforced by the Ordre des Médecins Vétérinaires du Québec (Order of Veterinarians of Quebec). The Ordre website states that the illegal practice of veterinary medicine includes “treating veterinary medical conditions using mechanical, physical, chemical, biological, or radio-therapeutic procedures,” and encourages the public to “protect themselves from charlatans.” The Quebec Ordre provides a French-language Standard of Practice document for complementary therapies including acupuncture, chiropractic, physiotherapy, and osteopathy. The document says that only veterinarians registered with the Ordre can provide complementary therapies or delegate treatment to appropriately trained individuals. Dr. Serapiglia, the Director of the Continuing Vocational Training Department at the Ordre, advised that “the practice of complementary and alternative therapies such as acupuncture, osteopathy,
chiropractic, and physiotherapy, constitutes the practice of veterinary medicine.” He added that veterinarians who use these therapies are “expected to have adequate training, consider the level of scientific evidence available for the therapy, assess the safety of the therapy, obtain informed consent from the owners, and undergo continuous education.” The College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) has taken a different approach to the Quebec Ordre. Ontario’s Veterinarians Act states that veterinary medicine includes dentistry, obstetrics, and surgery, and no one other than a veterinarian may practice veterinary medicine unless under the delegation and supervision of a veterinarian. But in July 2021, CVO released a position statement on the Use of NonConventional Therapies in the Practice of Veterinary Medicine, which states that it is “no longer realistic” for complementary and alternative therapies to only be provided by veterinarians. CVO further states, “The current reality is that many non-veterinarians are providing nonconventional therapies as treatment and/or care, with or without veterinarian input. In most cases, the College does not consider this the practice of veterinary medicine.” Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s Veterinarians Act and Nova Scotia’s Veterinary Medical Act appear to have similar definitions for the practice of veterinary medicine and both definitions are all-encompassing. New Brunswick Veterinary Medical Association’s (NBVMA) Registrar Dr. Nicole Jewett says the diagnosis and treatment of any condition would be considered a veterinary act. She says that “folks doing
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Industry
How
32
Climate Change
is Affecting Our Horse Industry
Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Nearly 90 percent of Canadians say they have already seen the effects of climate change in their communities.
Here’s What You Can Do
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/ALAN HEARTFIELD
y
By Tania Millen
PHOTO: ISTOCK/STEVERTS
C
limate change is substantially impacting Canadian horses, horse properties, and their owners. Almost 90 percent of Canadians in recent surveys say they’ve already seen climate change effects in their communities. Horses are increasingly affected by respiratory diseases from wildfire smoke and dust; skin disease and damaged hooves from variable weather; and unforeseen parasites and diseases. Horse owners are struggling to purchase hay, treat unexpected health issues, and adapt to weather-related riding limitations. Meanwhile, property owners are repairing damage from sudden storms, drought, excess water, and wind. So, it’s worth understanding how climate change will affect horses and properties into the future, and what you can do to prepare for these changes. “Climate” describes the prevailing weather conditions we’ve observed in Canada since the 1870s. Every province, region, and local area is experiencing climate change differently; however, one thing is certain — the weather we’re now experiencing is different from the weather we’ve historically relied upon, and it’s continuing to change. According to Natural Resource Canada’s 2021 National Issues Report, Canada is warming at double the global rate. The report states, “We’re experiencing more extreme heat, less extreme cold, longer growing seasons, shorter snow and ice cover seasons, earlier spring peak stream flow, thinning glaciers, and rising sea levels. Extreme events, such as floods and wildfires, are increasing.” Fortunately, adaptation is possible, which means that horse and property owners can proactively alter their properties and management practices to maximize horse health and reduce property damage.
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Industry
Emergency Preparedness
There’s Far More To It Than You Might Think
M
y wife and I recently spent four devastating days in Sumas Prairie, Abbotsford, British Columbia, assisting with the rescue and evacuation of animals following the disastrous flooding caused by the “atmospheric river” of torrential rain in mid-November 2021. It’s one thing to watch it on the news — it’s surreal to be on the ground in the middle of it. After five decades in commercial transport, I’ve learned a few things. Anyone with that much successful experience is obligated to share some of it. In light of recent events, and on achieving certification in Emergency Preparedness, I’d like to focus on what to do and what not to do when things go from bad to downright dangerous.
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Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
It’s important to understand that when we’re loading our horses into the trailer to go for a trail ride, we are relatively relaxed, with time to think about what we’re doing. If something goes sideways it’s seldom a life-threatening situation. But when an emergency and/or disaster strikes, everything changes. That dead calm, self-loading horse can easily become an emotional train wreck. Our expectations of our horses become irrelevant, and even well-practiced routines can go very wrong very quickly. We’ve heard the saying Be prepared to be unprepared inasmuch as our horses are
PHOTO: LEXI JONES
By Kevan Garecki
PHOTO: DREAMSTIME/FEDOR LASHKOV PHOTO: LEXI JONES
Looking south on Cole Rd, southern end of the Sumas Prairie, Abbotsford, BC on November 17, 2021. We were trying to get back out of the flats and discovered the road and bridges collapsing right in front of us.
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Industry
The
MAGIC of
Syndicates < <
52
Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Sharing Costs, Spreading Risks
By Tania Millen
PHOTO: DANA COOKE COLLECTION
<
Shareholder Diana Crawford (left) with FE Mississippi and Dana Cooke as they celebrate winning the 7-year-old award at the 2017 Ocala Jockey Club CCI3*-L.
< Dana Cooke riding FE Mississippi in the
CCI3*-S stadium jumping at the Cloud 11-Gavilan North LLC Carolina International CCI and Horse Trial, at Carolina Horse Park in March 2021.
Racehorse syndicates have been around for a long time, but it’s only in the last 20 years that sport horse syndicates have become more common. In the horse world, a syndicate is generally a group of people who pool their funds to invest in a horse together and share the horse’s annual costs. Everyone who “buys in” is a shareholder and owns a portion of the horse for a set period of time, or until the horse is resyndicated or sold. We asked a rider, a shareholder, and a rider/shareholder to share the inside scoop on what makes syndicates work.
D
PHOTO: DANA COOKE COLLECTION
PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS, INC./ALAMY LIVE NEWS
ana Cooke says riding syndicated horses has many advantages. Cooke is a Canadian three-day-event rider who was part of Canada’s bronze medalwinning team at the 2019 Pan American Games. Originally from Merritt, British Columbia, she’s now based at Kingfisher Park in North Carolina and rides three syndicated horses, one of which is her Pan American Games partner, FE Mississippi. When Cooke started riding FE Mississippi the mare was owned by an individual, but Cooke and the owner decided to syndicate the mare to ease the owner’s financial burden.
“Mississippi was the closest horse I had to achieve my goals and dreams, so we came up with a plan to syndicate and that helped me keep the ride,” Cooke explains. “It’s expensive to keep a horse going at the [international] level. Shareholders make it a bit more affordable, plus the [original owner] can still be part of the journey and excitement without having all the risk.” By selling shares in the horse, the original owner got some money out of the horse while retaining a portion of ownership and control. It also allowed Cooke to keep riding the mare en route to the Pan American Games. “It’s nice to have other people involved; it can actually be quite fun. We went to the Pan American Games and my owners had a VIP table and had a bit of a party,” says Cooke. She explains that every syndicate is set up and operates differently, but all her syndicates have ten shares worth 10 percent of the purchase price, plus an annual fee. For example, for an $80,000 horse, Cooke
< At the 2019 Pan American Games: (L-R) Tesla Parker Hasusman (groom at the Games), FE Mississippi, and Dana Cooke.
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Industry
Colt Starting
Competitions
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Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Are They Good, Bad, or a Bit of Both? Colt starting competitions are wildly popular with audiences, imbuing a sense of wonder at what trainers can do with previously unhandled three-year-old horses (colts) in just a few hours. They’re judged events, where each trainer is paired with an unbroke horse and has just a few hours to start it under saddle. While the trainers work with their horses, they explain their training methods to the audience. On the third and final day of the competition, the trainers show off their horse’s skills over an obstacle course. The young horses are started by top-notch trainers, the spectators are entertained, and the trainers win prizes and kudos for their skills. So, what’s not to like? Some people call these competitions “bullies on babies” because although the trainers are highly skilled, they’re under pressure to train in a very short time. That pressure may induce the trainers to push colts harder than if they were simply training at home, potentially sacrificing horse welfare for competition points. The horses may be overwhelmed and become
PHOTO: LEAH FOXCROFT
By Tania Millen
Jill O’Neill has concerns about the physical and mental well-being of the young horses in the colt starting competitions because of factors such as the weight of rider and saddle, and how body sore the colts must be by the end of the event.
PHOTO: SINCLAIR IMAGERY
Jim Anderson operates Higher Horsemanship based in Irvine, Alberta.
PHOTO: DANIQUE HENDERSON
Niki Flundra, founder and producer of the 2019 and 2021 Heart of the Horse colt starting competitions, believes that the horses benefit from being started by the very best trainers and that the events educate and inspire people.
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Industry
The
MANY HATS of a Horse Show
JUDGE By Lindsay Grice, Equestrian Canada coach and judge
Hunters and dressage are judged from a booth.
I smiled, walking past the airport hat kiosk, en route to a judging adventure at an exhibition in Eastern Canada. I’d be wearing several hats and judging a kaleidoscope of classes at the show — equitation, road hack, reining, Western riding, working hunter, pleasure driving, driven dressage, conformation, showmanship, miniature horses… and more! Those who judge multiple disciplines must learn to change hats frequently — scoring systems, terminology, penalties, class formats and even judging location (standing in the ring, sitting in a booth, on bleachers, or in a golf cart). Because I love watching horses and riders, I enjoy judging them. I’ve come to respect all the colours of the kaleidoscope — the unique characteristics of each breed, and the range of tack, turnout, and traditions throughout riding styles. My first love has always been teaching, and I shrugged off the idea of horse show judging for years. Too much pressure, I figured. Factors sorted and decisions made quickly with little time for mulling. No room for re-dos or explanations. Yet, as teaching has made me a better rider — more reflective and deliberate with my cues — judging has made me a better coach. From my judging experience, I direct my students to focus on the majors — sharpening credit-earning skills and avoiding penalties which tally up on the score sheet. To separate my roles as coach, rider, and judge, I remind myself to stay in my lane and keep my hat on.
PHOTO: PACT INC PHOTOGRAPHY/CAROL JACKSON
Judge’s Sun Hat or Coach’s Visor?
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Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
I think it helps for a coach to be a muller. I’m not impulsive by nature. I think on things and turn them around in my mind. Yet, as a judge I must assess what I see NOW. I can’t factor in potential and possibilities. That horse would be the clear winner if only… Wouldn’t that horse move beautifully if only… Often a performance problem lies beneath the surface. Discerning coaches zero in on the glitch and its source. Deeper than a simple equitation fix, glitches are commonly rooted in communication issues. My coach’s heart wants to explain to
At exhibitions, one judges a kaleidoscope of classes!
My coach’s heart wants to explain to competitors the reasons for their placings. Though I’ll invite questions, it isn’t a clinic. So, I live with the frustration that they may think, after the winners are announced, The judge didn’t like my horse.
Most of us sitting in a judge’s chair can relate to the experiences of the riders we judge. We know what it takes to prepare, to arrive at the show grounds early in the dark, and to navigate the warm-up arena and show ring traffic. We know what it’s like to win and to lose. It’s the losing that’s made me an empathetic judge. I know what it’s like to make a pilot error that costs an important class — to ride through the rest of the class with grace when you’d like to excuse yourself. I know what it’s like to go off-course
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LINDSAY GRICE
Judge’s Hat or Riding Helmet?
Scoring systems help define standards of excellence, average and poor. CONNECT TO THE HORSE INDUSTRY
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Sport Psychology
in the Horse Industry How to Bounce Back
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Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
As I sit down to write about burnout, I step back through time into memories of moments where I felt overwhelmed by frustration, exhaustion, and an agonizing feeling of not achieving. A feeling of not measuring up to expectations. When I was in this mental place, every unsuccessful show and difficult ride left me feeling stressed, anxious, and like a failure. The thoughts, Why do I do this? and, I can’t do this any more! played on repeat in my head. I was spending so much time and money and I wanted success badly. Yet, looking back I can now see how the harder I tried to force success, the more stressed I became, which left me drained and unable to ride to the level I was capable of. With the benefit of hindsight and years of studying psychology, I now know that I burnt out several different times in my competitive riding career. At the time, with no word to explain my experience, it just felt like hitting a wall that I had neither the physical nor mental strength to push through. If any of this experience sounds familiar to you, it’s important to recognize that burnout is essentially the body’s way of trying to protect you. Think of it as a message from you, to you. The message is saying something like: Slow down and look after yourself please — you cannot sustain this much longer. If we can listen to this message and make some small yet powerful adjustments, we can lead ourselves back from burnout and towards a better, more sustainable way of living and riding. Burnout is defined as a psychological syndrome that develops in response to a prolonged experience of stress. It is
PHOTO: ISTOCK/JACK F
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/PETER TITMUSS
By Annika McGivern
experienced as profound exhaustion, a feeling of no longer caring or feeling detached from things you used to love, and a sense of ineffectiveness or lack of accomplishment. If this article has resonated with you so far, you’re not alone. The highly demanding nature of equestrian sport, and the equally demanding nature of building or running a business in the equestrian industry, creates conditions that are very likely to lead to burnout. Long hours, unpredictable challenges, and many elements beyond our control all increase stress, and when we battle stress for a long time we eventually hit that wall.
ck
ADJUSTMENT #1:
Rest, balance, and prioritize yourself The first step in recovering from burnout is giving yourself permission to rest. Take a day or two away from the barn and try to get a few extra hours of sleep. Do something simple that you love to do but haven’t done in forever. Grab a coffee with a good friend. Sit down and watch Netflix for an entire afternoon. Do not skip this step! You cannot do the mental work of recovering from burnout until your body has had a chance to rebalance. If you are reading this right now and immediately thinking of a million reasons why you can’t take a day off, then consider this: The best thing we can do for our horses, our relationships, and our jobs is to prioritize our own health and
well-being. We cannot and will not show up as the best riders, parents, friends, business owners, or employees we can be when we are physically and mentally exhausted. Allow yourself a timeout to rest and regroup. Then ask yourself this question: What do I need to give myself permission to do differently to allow for more rest, balance, and recovery in my life?
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ADJUSTMENT #2:
What is the point? One of the most challenging symptoms of burnout is feeling detached from things that are important to us. This is often experienced as a profound drop in motivation and feelings of pessimism and cynicism about the future. In these moments the question, What is the point of doing this? comes from a place of hopelessness, yet it is the exact question that we need to think more about to find our way forward. What is the point? Why do you ride, coach, train, or run a barn? Burnout can follow when pressure disconnects us from the values that drew us to the equestrian industry in the first place. As the pressure mounts to be an excellent rider who gets results, to coach students to success, and to build a profitable business, our focus strays farther and farther from what sparked our love of horses in the first place. We begin chasing the results and outcomes, instead of being present in the day-to-day process that gets us there. Ironically, a
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PHOTO: IAN KENNEDY
A foal at TJ Stables near Chatham, Ontario.
PHOTO: ROBERT ALEXANDER
Ojibwe
Spirit Horses
Little Horses of the Big Woods
By Ian Kennedy
Sitting in the trees, the boys could feel warmth in the air, the breath of the herd rising to their feet. Pounding hooves echoed through the oaks like a warning bell, chasing Bill and his friends into the low branches. Here they sat watching dozens of horses pass below. Through Ontario’s Carolinian woods, the boys often followed snake-like “miikaans,” the little roads created by the horses. Emerging from the trees, the herd would wade across the shallow waters of the river to a small island, cooling themselves while they escaped the bugs. When the drumming of hooves had faded, the boys would drop from the branches like apples in autumn and continue on their way. Opening his eyes, the scene was still vivid in Bill Sands’ mind. Standing in a pasture at TJ Stables near Chatham, Ontario more than half a century later, Sands, now in his seventies, undoubtedly looks like any other visitor. He is dressed in a blue-checked shirt, 80
Canada’s Equine Guide 2022
jeans, a ball cap, and ostrich-leather boots. In one arm is his grandson; his other arm is outstretched pointing at the Ojibwe spirit horses, the same horses from his childhood. Memories rush back. For centuries, these wild Ojibwe spirit horses, the “Little Horses of the Big Woods,”
CANADA’S HORSE INDUSTRY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
wandered freely on Walpole Island First Nation, an Indigenous community bordering Ontario and Michigan at the mouth of the St. Clair River. The Ojibwe spirit horses, also known as Lac La Croix Indigenous ponies, are somewhat smaller than other breeds. Standing between 12.2 and 14.2 hands, the sturdy spirit horses have thick, lion-like manes and hairy ears. They are hardy, with small, hard feet, and strong cannon bones. Their predominate colour is dun, and many have a dorsal stripe running from neck to tail, with subtle striping down their legs. In his youth, Sands and his brother would catch and break the ponies, building corrals for their favourites. At the annual
PHOTO: IAN KENNEDY
PHOTO: ROBERT ALEXANDER
Bill Sands recalls how he and his friends would climb the trees and watch the Ojibwe spirit horses gallop through the forest below.
Walpole Island Fair, youth including Sands would choose a pony and enter the pony races. The Fair and races were a popular attraction for locals, and for tourists who arrived for the event via steamers during the first half of the 1900s from across the Great Lakes. Tourists would wander the Island to see the famed ponies roaming the prairies, grazing languidly before chasing these outsiders from the beaches as a herd appeared and splashed into the water. However, over time the ponies, once valued, became a nuisance. As settlers
were slated for extinction when in 1977 Canadian health officials deemed them a “health risk” (missionaries at the reservation considered it inappropriate for children to witness the horses mating), and ordered their euthanization. That is, until a group of men took action. In what would be called the “heist across the ice,” under cover of darkness they rescued the mares and drove over a frozen lake at Lac La Croix in Northern Ontario, taking the horses to a ranch in Minnesota for protection. As a girl, Terry Jenkins, the owner of
PHOTO: ROBERT ALEXANDER
The ponies once shared their territory with the Ojibwe people, and ran wild in the boreal forests of Northwestern Ontario and Northern Minnesota. Today they are used in programs promoting Indigenous heritage, in equine-assisted therapy, and in tourism.
pushed the Indigenous people of the land from traditional hunting and gathering grounds, agriculture became a growing industry on the delta islands of Walpole. Soon, acres of once protected, sacred soil, were being taken for farmland at an unimaginable pace. When the wild ponies were deemed to be eating crops and damaging farmland, a decision was made that they must go. First, the horses were sold to outsiders. Next, they were rounded up for slaughter at a nearby rendering plant. Finally, the remaining horses were hunted. By the mid1970s, only four were known to remain anywhere on earth. These mares — Lillian, Bishkee, Diamond, and Dark Face — the last known representatives of the breed,
The Ojibwe spirit horses are friendly and intelligent, small and sure-footed, and very hardy, with hairy ears to help protect them from cold and insects. Historically, the pony was used by the Ojibwe people to ride trap lines, pull loads of wood and ice, and haul sleighs.
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