On Monday, June 5th, the Siksika Agricultural Society and the University of Calgary offered veterinary services to horse owners in Siksika. Every year since 2019, the University of Calgary has come out to provide these services all for free. The rotation services total about $50,000 annually at Siksika and Tsuut’ina (which services are also provided to). All together over the years equate to $200,000, which is surely something that helps the community of Siksika. This was organized by Siksika Agri Center Manager Kyle Running Rabbit and staff, who aided in getting the information to the community and organizing for the University of Calgary to come out and provide services.
The veterinary team was led by Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, Dr. Jean-Yin Tan. Dr. Tan exclaimed how both her students and the community are benefiting from this partnership. This opportunity gives students who are in their fourth year a chance to get hands-on experience in their practice and in the community with all veterinary services for their horses. The services provided are expensive, and the specific services provided to Siksika equate to about $25,000 which were all done for free. This greatly helps the community because getting veterinary work done can be costly, and it certainly makes sure horses are in proper health.
“The students need hands on experience in their fourth year and the community members have been really wonderful for allowing them to do all hands on learning”. Said Dr. Tan in an interview.
Siksika and the community are certainly grateful for the services and the time that Dr. Jean-Yin Tan and her students are giving to make sure horses in the community are looked after.
