Partnerships, pancakes and chuckwagon poles

Dr. Baljit Singh was well aware of the work veterinary medicine researchers and their students are doing through a partnership with the Calgary Stampede, but as he donned his brand new Wranglers and shiny big belt buckle last week, he wasn’t aware there would be so many pancakes.

“I like how the whole city really partakes in the Stampede, from going down to the grounds to organizing pancake breakfasts everywhere,” says Singh, who started as the dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) last fall. “I never realized the magnitude of the Stampede or the extent to which people participate. There’s lots of fun.”

And, there’s lots of science.

Take the work by Dr. Renaud Léguillette, UCVM’s first Chair in Equine Sports Medicine. He studies how to prevent injuries in high-performance horses at the Stampede. Over the years, he’s researched the respiratory systems of barrel racing horses and those entered in the Heavy Horse Pull Competition.

This summer, Léguillette supervised a new study — a unique collaboration between the faculties of veterinary medicine, engineering and kinesiology — looking at a piece of equipment that connects chuckwagons to the team of horses. “Dr. Léguillette is doing a research project testing how chuckwagon poles respond to stress of competition,” says Singh. “Finding a way to ensure the poles don’t bend or break could help prevent injuries among horses during the chuckwagon races.”

Dr. Ed Pajor, professor in animal behaviour and welfare at UCVM and Anderson-Chisholm Chair in Animal Care and Welfare, has also done a lot of research with animals at the Stampede including a paper published last year on the emotional state and stress levels of bucking bulls.

This year, Pajor is studying whether bulls — not normally provided shade in the holding pens — prefer the sun or shade, and is looking for early clinical signs of heat stress and behaviour changes. “The current thinking is that bulls out in the pasture are used to living out in the sun so they really don’t care if they’re in the sun or the shade,” says Singh, “but no scientific study has been done so Dr. Pajor is beginning by doing a small-scale study that will inform a larger study next summer on the well-being of rodeo animals.”

Back at the first Stampede rodeo in 1912, cowboys were likely less concerned about bulls in the sun or how horse’s lungs work, but thinking around animal welfare has progressed. “The nature of the agricultural community has shifted since the first Stampede was held more than 100 years ago,” says Singh.  “The way we handle animals, the way we treat animals, the societal norms and thinking have changed quite a bit for the better.”

And as the partnership between UCVM and the Stampede continues to grow, building knowledge around the health and welfare of animals involved in the events, Singh expects animal food production will become a bigger focus. “Food, and where food comes from, is a vehicle that connects our rural and urban communities,” he says. “UCVM and the Stampede are discussing this now — how we can do a better job creating awareness about food.”  

In the meantime, the dean says he enjoyed the sense of community around the Calgary Stampede as well as “all the pancakes.”