Graduate student Samantha Steinke (left) holds Mama alongside her supervisor, WCVM researcher Dr. Julia Montgomery. Photo by Christina Weese.
Graduate student Samantha Steinke (left) holds "Mama" alongside her supervisor, WCVM researcher Dr. Julia Montgomery. Photo by Christina Weese.

Researcher inspired by memory of beloved horse

Samantha Steinke is a biomedical engineering master’s student, but her love for horses is what led her to apply her expertise to a research project at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM).

In a recent feature by the BBC News World Service, Steinke shared her story about how she found Dr. Julia Montgomery’s equine rehabilitation project after losing her own horse to a limb injury.

The research team is working to design a unique harness that will help horses rehabilitate from limb injuries, which are often fatal due to complications that can develop during the healing process.

Montgomery, a large animal internal medicine specialist at the WCVM, began her work on the equine lift project more than four years ago, partnering with Saskatoon-based RMD Engineering to design a harness and robotic equine lift, which takes the weight off a horse’s injured limb while protecting the uninjured limbs from bearing too much weight.

Steinke joined the project in 2016, and in 2018 was awarded a master’s fellowship by Mitacs, which is sharing the cost of her fellowship with RMD.

Listen to Steinke’s interview on BBC News Outlook.  

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