Half a dozen Rutgers students crouch in the dry Canadian grass and gaze into the eyes of distrustful foals. At first glance, the scenario seems like an oddly mismatched staring contest, but it is in reality silent communication – an unspoken sizing-up between human and horse. After what seems like eons, one foal takes a tentative step toward a patiently waiting student. Mutual trust is established, and a relationship begins.
Since 1999, the Young Horse Teaching and Research Program at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (the renamed Cook College) has taught students how to select, train, and handle young horses as well as to assist in research. The program begins over the summer as sponsored students travel with Sarah Ralston, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, to ranches in North Dakota and Canada to select foals. Over the course of a 10-day excursion participants attempt to befriend unhandled foals for six to seven hours per day.
The annual trip is something of a mission – a quest to select the untamed creatures best suited to become fit for teaching students, participate in nutritional studies and win blue ribbons at horse shows when they are sold at the end of the school year.
Referred to affectionately as “the babies,” the young horses, now weaned from their mothers, make their voyage to Rutgers each September. Once the weanlings arrive at Rutgers, the students are further guided by Ralston. She provides them with professional guidance and her research experience, while they, in turn, inspire her with new ideas. “It’s fun to watch both the students and horses mature,” Ralston said. “I learn something new from the students and young horses every semester.”
But the Rutgers program is not solely to provide opportunities for hands-on equine and research experience – it also gives its participants practical business experience. Each spring, the program holds a benefit auction where the yearlings are sold to eager bidders. This year’s eighth annual NAERIC (North American Equine Ranching Information Council) Yearling Horse Benefit Auction took place April 29; selling prices ranged from $1,200 to $3,700.
The Young Horse program relies on sponsor support and the proceeds of the auction to continue and has been totally self supporting for the past six years. Students are involved in all aspects of marketing and presentations to the public, and update program sponsors monthly.
Senior Lindsey Ferrara said there is “a lot of marketing and promotion involved.” A native of Old Tappan in Bergen County, Ferrara has been riding and showing since the age of 7 and is a member of the Rutgers University Mounted Patrol. Why study horses? “It’s always been my passion,” Ferrara said. “Not something I’d give up.”
This year’s “babies” were named after book characters, among them RU Atticus, RU Curious George and RU Gatsby. At last month’s benefit auction, held the day after Ag Field Day on the Cook Campus, attendees participated in a contest to guess the title and author of the books from which the horses’ names came. “The barn was packed with potential buyers as well as supporters of the program, new and old alike,” said Ashley Cristelli, a senior in the program, of the auction. “The horses were exceptionally well-behaved, and the guests noticed it.”
This year, the research was largely concentrated on the nutritional requirements of draft cross/warmblood horses, which is what the young horses are. Virtually all of the current recommendations available are based on light horse breeds like Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and Quarter Horses. Previous research with the Young Horse program has established that draftcross/warmblood horse does not require the same level of caloric intake as the “hotter” breeds.
Liz Houston, an animal science and political science double major at SEBS, condensed the equine jargon of the students’ research papers into a simple analogy. “Think of the thoroughbreds as that skinny friend who never gains a pound regardless of what she eats. And think of the warmbloods as the fat one who gains weight if she so much as looks at ice cream.” As a result of the research done at SEBS, the recommendations for feeding draft cross and warmblood young horses have already changed.
“Each year it seems to get a little bit better,” Ralston said. “We build on things.”