The Rutgers Young Horse Teaching & Research Program: Newsflash!

RU Rosie, RU Pardner with RU Glinda, RU Casanova, RU Brisa and RU Genesis

November 1, 2009
RU Sir Galahad (Class of '01), ridden by his owner, Bill Kaminski, won Reserve Champion at the Canal 25 mile Competitive Trail ride. Bill's daughter, Robin, rode with him on her horse, RU Bo Derek (class of '03). It was their first ever competitive trail ride and they placed a respectable 6th place in their division.

October 14, 2009
Controlled behavior tests reveals that the Mustangs are as good or even better than our weanling and yearling Draft crosses in basic handling responses.
Sarah Ralston
Two weeks ago all 12 horses were put through a standardized test where in they were caught in the field by Dr. Ralston, who led them to the round pen, walked around it once, halted and made them stand still for one minute. She then rubbed their face and ears, ran her hands firmly over their torso and abdomen, asked them to back up 3 steps, turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. The students who were observing then clapped their hands loudly outside the pen with the young horse facing them. The final tests were when Dr. Ralston picked up a broom, showed it to the horse, laid it down on the ground and asked the horse to walk over it twice, then led the horse around the pen from the right side. All tasks were graded by the students' and Dr. Ralston's consensus on a scale of 0 to 4.5, with:
4.5 being an A+=no resistance, perfect response, and
0=F=pulling away and resisting violently.
Only one horse got an F on any of the tests: Shivna did NOT like the broom even though she had seen it many times during Ag Field day training in the spring, and decided to "leave".

The average overall scores were: Mustang Yearlings 3.78 +/- .06,
Draft Cross Yearlings: 3.74 +/- .14 (If we omitted Shivna, the Yearling Draft Cross average was the same as the Mustangs).
The weanling Draft Crosses got 3.63+/- .07. It should be noted that the weanlings had had only 3 weeks of training versus 5 for the mustangs.
Casstest1009

RU Cassanova during a pause RU Canella turning RU Rosie leading from right RU Marley hoof lift!

Photos by Samantha Vitale

October 13, 2009
Mustang colts gelded
Sarah Ralston
RU Marley and RU Casanova were castrated by Dr. Dan Keenan, using a standard procedure open/open castration. They were sedated with Xylazine then dropped with Ketamine for the procedure, using normal doses of the drugs, though Dr. Keenan did increase Marley's ketamine dose a little, as he would have done for any more nervous type horse. The surgeries went well. Cass stayed down a fairly long time after the procedure was done, apparently waiting until he felt sure he could get up and walk normally because that is what he did! Marley made an initial very early attempt, decided that was not a good idea and laid there sternally with his nose on the ground for another 5 or 6 minutes. He was much more wobbly when he did get up (A bit sooner than Cass!) and it was rather cute-he kept looking at the ground and shifting his front feet as if to try find solid ground that wasn't "spinning" :-)

The next morning both geldings appeared in good spirits and had great appetites. The incision sites were draining well and normally swollen. Their students worked them in the round pen for 10 minutes and both colts were more than willing to trot and canter on command! The students watching were all commenting on the gorgeous, floating trot that especially Marley has (Though Cass is really elegant too).

CassTonkMarley

Cass, Tonk (who will be gelded next month) and Marley sharing a mid-morning snack before the surgeries
Photo by Sarah Ralston

October 10, 2009
Coming Out Party a major Success!
Sarah Ralston

Over 40 people crowded into the Ryders Lane barn to admire the young horses being used in the Young Horse Program this year. All of the horses were taken out individually to meet their sponsors (if present) and be admired by the crowd. Even the mustangs were exceptionally well behaved despite the large crowd and noise. It was great to see so many old friends and to make some new ones!

Mustang yearling RU Draft Cross weanling, RU Woodstock with the    Yearling draft cross RU Pardner with
Rambling Rose with student    with his sponsors, the Colts Neck Trail Riders       his sponsor, Sandra Denarski
Pam Brzezynski     and student, Kim Ward (hidden student, Samantha Rodgers)

CarlaGenesis

Carla Prentiss with "her'       Jane and Bill Meyer with RU Honky Tonk Part of the crowd admiring the young horses.
weanling, RU Genesis    and student Kelly Steimle       The yellow US Wild Horse & Burro goody
   grab bags were courtesy of Robin Rivello
Photos by William Kaminski

October 8, 2009
Sarah Ralston

Mustangs and weanlings get their first hoof trim!
Eric Fisher trimmed the 4 mustangs and 4 weanlings in only 1 1/2 hours. There were no major battles and Eric even commented that Marley should come to my house to teach RU Sir Galahad (Class of 2001 who he shoes) how to behave!
Cassfirsttrim

Casanova standing like a gentleman in the aisle Genesis getting her hind feet done in the stall
Photo by Robin Rivello Photo by Sarah Ralston