A Lifetime of Helping Horses

By Monique Noble 

In emergency situations my mom always said to look for the helpers, help the helpers, and if you can’t find a helper - be one. Dr. Susan Raymond, Communications and Programs Officer at Equine Guelph, at the University of Guelph in Ontario, has been helping the helpers since 2014. 

As a city-dwelling horse-crazy kid, Susan Raymond looked forward to going to horse camp every summer. Those happy summers ignited a passion that led to a job exercising racehorses, which developed into a desire to work with horses as an adult.  

Her early experiences in both recreational and professional horse facilities sparked her interest in exploring optimal environments for horses, promoting their well-being, and supporting the welfare of those who care for them. 

While completing her PhD in Animal Sciences, Dr. Raymond researched the effects of mycotoxin exposure on horses and studied how stable design and management practices influence air quality and equine health. 

Related: Horse Community Heroes: Gillian Allan

Choosing a path outside traditional veterinary medicine, she dedicated herself to educating others on responsible equine stewardship. She emphasizes the importance of well-designed and well-managed equine environments to ensure animal safety, enhance health and performance, and promote environmental responsibility. 

Dr. Susan Raymond. Photo courtesy of Dr. Susan Raymond 

Dr. Raymond’s work ignited a strong commitment to understanding the responsibilities of horse owners and caregivers, focusing on how care practices and environments impact equine welfare, health, and performance. Driven to share her expertise, she transitioned into industry education, joining the Equine Guelph team as a professor in 2003. 

Playing a multi-faceted role in the Equine Diploma program, Dr. Raymond is both an instructor and cocreator of the Management of the Equine Environment and Stewardship of the Equine Environment courses. In addition, she serves as an assistant instructor for the online Equine Journalism course. 

Through her involvement in Equine Guelph programs, Dr. Raymond worked with first responders on fire prevention and farm safety, where she recognized the need for specialized training to equip both first responders and equine handlers to manage their own safety alongside that of large animals during emergencies. While first responders are trained to assess human safety, handling a panicked horse in a fire or enclosed space presents unique challenges that standard training doesn’t fully address. 

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Recognizing a need for this type of training in Canada, and with support from Equine Guelph, Dr. Raymond began researching and attending courses led by Dr. Rebecca Husted, the primary instructor and president of Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue in Georgia, USA. Thanks to Dr. Raymond’s dedication and advocacy, Dr. Husted was invited to Ontario by Equine Guelph to mentor and assist in the development of the Equine Guelph Large Animal Emergency Rescue (LAER) program. 

Hands-on rescue simulations provide first responders and equine handlers with practical experience in safely rescuing large animals, with training applicable to all types of large animal rescues, not just equine. Photo courtesy of Dr Susan Raymond 

Gayle Ecker, Director of Equine Guelph, has watched and admired Dr. Raymond’s dedication to the equine industry throughout her career, and in particular the LAER program, which was introduced in 2014 and has been growing in demand over the last ten years. 

“Dr. Raymond is an important part of the Equine Guelph team, and her passion has helped to develop this program into the successful training initiative that it is today, drawing participants from all corners of Ontario and beyond,” says Ecker. “Her leadership has helped bring experts together from many walks of life, and all contribute to building this program for first responders as well as veterinarians and horse owners to be better prepared with knowledge and rescue techniques to support horse welfare.” 

Designed and refined to help people and departments work with large animals in a safe, confident, and knowledgeable manner, the LAER program has now been successfully training first responders and horse handlers for a decade. The LAER program content can be adapted to the needs of the people and organizations taking the course to ensure they are getting the most out their learning opportunity while maintaining safety standards. 

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As the Equine Guelph website states: “All large animal incidents, regardless of cause or scope, present a risk of injury to responders. Through proper training of best practices and the use of specialized rescue equipment we significantly mitigate these risks and improve the odds of a favourable outcome for both animals and responders. By keeping responders safe, we improve our capacity to keep animals safe. The Awareness/Operational level course is designed to meet the specific needs of the host fire department. The training team works closely with the host department and takes into account the host site, available heavy equipment and/or other specialized equipment in designing the training program.” 

The LAER programs include “in-class” hands-on experiences that introduce basic animal behaviour, animal handling techniques, animal restraint and confinement techniques, and basic anatomy, as well as discussions of the roles of others at animal incidents including owners, veterinarians, and rescue and care agencies. 

Together with her other instructors and Rusty, her trusty incident steed, Dr. Raymond has given numerous first responders and handlers the knowledge they need to safely remove horses from the horrors of overturned trailers and burning barns, among other situations. The focus is on the safety of personnel and ensuring both responders and handlers can help a distressed animal without putting themselves into a situation where they also need to be rescued alongside a panicked or injured equine.  

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“Picture an incident with an animal, for example a horse down a well on somebody’s property,” she explains. “Those that would respond usually would be first responders, local police, your horse owner, maybe the fire department would get involved. So, there could be a wide range of disciplines responding to such an incident. We teach what would happen in a real incident. It has to be grounded in the incident command system or incident management system that all first responders utilize and enable responders to work the livestock involved safely and as a team. This type of programming in terms of working with such diverse industries and different leaders really takes a team approach both from the community, and from funders and supporters. Our program currently is funded by Grand River Agricultural Society. When we run these courses, we have such a great support from the industry; it really is a community-based program. Sometimes you’ll have people come in and bring their equipment so you can use it to put ‘Rusty’ into situations. It’s really a great way to come together as a community, and it’s great to be able to form that community before the incident rather than during the incident.” 

Dr. Raymond also stresses the importance of including a veterinarian in LAER, as a distressed animal can do more injury to itself and its would-be rescuers while struggling. Veterinarians can quickly assess the needs of the distressed animal and sedate it to make its rescue safer for everyone involved. She believes the most important component in this program is creating a successful team dynamic. While she is beyond thrilled and proud to have been recognised by Canadian Horse Journal and her colleagues as a “Horse Community Hero,” she is quick to point out that “this type of program really is very much a team effort. I really feel honoured to have the opportunity to work with a range of first responders and industry specialists. I’m not a first responder, but I’ve been really fortunate to work with some amazing people on this program for the last number of years.” 

When Dr. Raymond recognized the need for safety training in emergency livestock handling and rescue, her immediate response was to find a way to address it. Through her vision and dedication, she has played a pivotal role in helping horses, other large animals, and the people who assist them. Her efforts have contributed to the development and ongoing success of Equine Guelph’s Large Animal Emergency Rescue program, which has impacted lives worldwide. 

For her dedication to improving the horse industry and her leadership in developing the LAER program, we proudly recognize Dr. Raymond as a true Horse Community Hero. 

Related: Gayle Ecker Acknowledged for Equine Guelph Leadership, Inspiring a $7 Million Bequest

Main Photo: Dr. Susan Raymond facilitating a LAER course with her assistant “Rusty.” A fully articulated resin horse weighing about 700 pounds, Rusty is an invaluable resource in educating people how to work with equines in emergency situations. Photo courtesy of Dr. Susan Raymond