Canada: Horses take veterinarians for a run

Producer.com - Full Article

Family affair


Posted Jul. 6th, 2017 by Christalee Froese

CARNDUFF, Sask. — They jointly run an average of 160 kilometres per week and that doesn’t include running to veterinary calls and chasing after three kids.


Dr. Marcel Macfarlane and his wife, Dr. Dawn Pauwelyn, are not only experts on equine colic, feline parasites and bovine prolapse, but they have mastered ultra-marathon running in their spare time.


They have sometimes gone to extreme and unusual lengths to fit lengthy training runs into their schedules. Pauwelyn has run 29 km back to town after dropping off a car at her in-laws’ farm while Macfarlane has jogged 40 km to the U.S. border and back for a parcel. 


Macfarlane can sometimes be found running next to a horse and rider as part of his quest to train for 50 to 162 km races.


“I’m always looking for ways to make training interesting, so I’ll call up my buddy, Jake, and say, ‘you ride, I’ll run,’ ” said Macfarlane, adding that while a horse has more speed, humans can have greater endurance.


Relying on his vast knowledge of equine physiology, Macfarlane said that when the environmental temperatures rise, a horse can’t cool off as quickly and that’s where he can outperform a horse. 


“I’ve done runs with Jake and when we got back in after eight miles, those horses were beat, but I was still OK,” said the 45-year-old vet.
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