6/ MAY 2019 THE RIDER MY SPIN: Midwifing Duties


for the 19th as that was her birthday. My fa- ther’s birthday was the 18th. It’s funny how we think of these things when a foal or baby is close to being born. I had a lot of friends keeping tabs on


when the baby was coming. “No baby yet” was a common response by me. My good friend Eleanor, who lives in Texas, has a mother who lives in Ohio and Eleanor was giving progress reports to her mother. It’s such a fun time. Eleanor once said that she had to tell her mother to get off the phone as I was calling in and her mother replied “OK. Call me right back!” Cute. I heard the mare straining on the baby


By Susan Dahl.


For Baby SusieQ It was the third night that I hadn’t


had much sleep. I set the baby monitor up in the barn and I knew that it was close. Cleo’s mother always gave birth 12 months less a few days and with it being Cleo’s first time, I wasn’t sure. But I had a feeling that April 17th was close. My friend Jeannine was hoping


monitor sometime past 10pm. I won’t get graphic or gross here but you can imagine the sounds typically coming from your fam- ily bathroom when someone, who’s famous for bringing in reading material and warns people to ‘be a little older’ before going into the bathroom after they’re done. It just best to stay away if you know what I mean. I thought it was too early for foaling


as mares usually foal in the middle of the night but I’ve heard other stories. I was


the face. The hardest part of course was to


get the shoulders through. So when the mare was pushing, I was pulling steadily. When she rested, I held the foal legs so the foal wouldn’t go back inside. It took the mare 10 minutes and the


foal was on the ground. I heard myself saying “mark the time.” 10:25pm. I was excited to see that it was a filly and of red dun color, just like her daddy. OMG! No phone. While the mare


was bonding with the foal, I quickly washed the blood off my hands and coat, my pajamas were a right off, I ran into the house and got my phone. The first picture is the foal at 5 minutes old when I got back from the


completely alerted and I jumped up and ran to the barn. I got to the barn in time for the mare


to have started labour. I was thankful for that. The foal had it’s head and front legs out but the mare was anxious. She stood up and was nervous, of course. I decided to help her. I try not to inter-


fere if I don’t have too. My midwifing du- ties kicked in. I’ve done this a few times before. I checked to make sure that the sac was open and the foal was breathing ok. Of course, I had to peak and check the color of the foal. Nice white markings on


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AFFIX OLD ADDRESS HERE fare It is every horse girl or boy’s dream: growing up on a horse farm. For most, a dream is all it is, but for Dr. Camie


Heleski, that dream was reality. She spent her childhood on her family’s horse farm where they raised, trained, and showed horses. Given this history, it is no surprise that Heleski went on to pursue a career deeply involved with horses. Upon completion of her B.Sc. in Animal Science from Michigan State Uni-


versity, Heleski knew her educational journey was not yet over. She continued on at MSU to receive a Master’s degree with an emphasis on equine nutrition and exercise physiology, and a PhD focusing on equine behaviour and welfare. Deeply ingrained in the equine program at Michigan State, Heleski contin-


ued as Coordinator of their two-year Horse Management Program for 25 years. Recently, in 2016, Heleski began teaching and advising at the University of Ken- tucky in their Equine Science and Management program. In addition to teaching, she is highly involved in equine research. Her applied research interests have re- volved around equine behaviour and welfare, horse-human interactions and work- ing equids in developing regions of the world; more recently she has begun examining issues related to the Thoroughbred racing industry. In addition to her teaching and research, she has been actively involved with


Name: Address: City: Prov.:


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the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) as a Council member and currently serves as their Senior Vice President. As one of the keynote speakers at this year’s ISES conference being held in Guelph, ON from August 19-21, Heleski will be tracing the roots of equitation science from the shared idea be- tween a small group of likeminded individuals in 2002 to the birth of the official academic society. Heleski will explore themes from past conferences and high- light the impact such research has made to the manage- ment, training and understanding of horses. For example, the development of technologies such as sad- dle pressure mats and rein tensiometers together with behavioural indicators such as the pain grimace scale and eye temperature allow us to manage the effects of riding and training on the horse. Empirical evidence has contributed to position statements endorsed by ISES with the goal to improve horse welfare. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Arabian


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P.O. Box 378, Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 (905) 387-1900 • email: barry@therider.com


gelding in the discipline of dressage. Heleski and her daughter have also recently adopted an Off the Track Thoroughbred named Abu by More than Ready out of a Malibu Moon daughter.


Registration is now open for the 15th annual ISES con- ference. Don’t miss the early bird deadline of June 1 for conference registration. For all the details and links to registration and accommodations, visit the Equitation Science website or the Horse Portal.


house with my phone. This next photo is of my


pajamas and the blood all done the front. I was texting and call- ing Eleanor and she in turn was calling her mother to tell her the good news. I want to thank Eleanor for the phone help to a few questions that I had. I also texted a few other


friends to give the good news. I even took a few short videos. Isn’t technology wonderful at this kind of event. It’s amazing that the foal


only took an hour and she was up and tried to nurse. The mare was sensitive and I had to tie her up for the first few times the foal nursed. So at 1.30am, after taking


many photos and doing a ‘wel- coming into the world’ cere- mony for the foal, I was SO tired. I chucked my night shirt into the garbage and went to bed. I had no trouble sleeping. I did rush out the next morning - even before my coffee - to check on the mare and foal. As you can see from the last photo,


SusieQ and Mom are doing great. The vet check the next day went really well. I was so relieved. SusieQ is now 2 weeks old at the


time of this article and she is really run- ning circles around her mother in the pasture field. Humm. The foal is cer- tainly more active then her mother was when she was that age. Interesting....


Putting My Spin On Midwifing @KISS Reiners Reinersue


About Susan Dahl Susan Dahl, ORHA/NRHA past multiple champion, writer, blog- ger, author and clinician, retired certified professional horse trainer. Owner of Foundation Reining Training Centre in Durham, ON. She specializes in effective horsemanship, and rein- ing. For more information on her services: judging, clinics or re- sale horses, please contact her on facebook, her website: www.reinersuehorsemanship.com or reinersue@hotmail.com


A short evolutionary note of Equitation Science to be presented by Dr. Camie Heleski


By Aly Tweedle and Dani Rose, BBRM Equine Management students Empirical evidence has contributed to position statements endorsed by ISES with the goal to improve horse wel-


Camie with a working mule in rural Mexico, doing a behavioural approach teast


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