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.