C of I students prepare wild mustangs for adoption
2011. 04. 13.
April has been a busy month for The College of Idaho equestrian club, which is wrapping up the first year of its Wild Horse Foster Program. Two C of I students and their foster horses won awards over spring break, and the club will showcase the mustangs to potential adopters Friday through Sunday at the Idaho Horse Expo in Nampa.
C of I senior Kaylie Shaver created the Wild Horse Foster Program this year with the help of the Idaho Bureau of Land Management. The program, advised by psychology professor Dr. Jill Haunold, gives students the unique opportunity to work with and train wild mustangs. Haunold and the seven C of I students and alumni involved in WHFP – Shaver, Kyra Peterson, Jennifer Lawrence, Tori Burnett, Alicia Latta, Daviana Watkins and Elizabeth Hulse '10 – have fed, exercised, trained and cleaned stalls of their six foster horses since January.
“The experience of seeing both the horses and the club members grow through this program has been extremely rewarding,” said Shaver, a biology major from Benton City, Wash. “It's pretty uncommon for novice horse trainers to try something like this. It was a tremendous amount of work, but I think our group really rose to the challenge.”
Over spring break, members of the club and their horses participated in the BLM Foster Mustang Weanling Trail Challenge. Shaver won the competition with her horse, Frankie, while Peterson, a sophomore from Caldwell, placed third with her horse Kelso and fifth with her horse George.
The equestrian club held public meet and greets with the horses last week. Potential owners will get another chance to see the animals at the Idaho Horse Expo, which will be held at the Idaho Horse Park outside the Idaho Center. All six horses will be showcased and auctioned at the Expo, but Shaver said three of the animals have already been spoken for.
“I'm really happy to see the horses move on,” said Shaver, an aspiring veterinarian who has accepted an apprenticeship with a horse trainer in Washington this summer. “It's going to be really hard to see them go, but helping them get adopted into good homes is what makes this whole process worthwhile.”
Founded in 1891, The College of Idaho is the state's oldest private liberal arts college. It has a century-old tradition of educating some of the most accomplished graduates in Idaho, including six Rhodes Scholars, three Marshall Scholars, and another ten Truman and Goldwater Scholars. The College is located on a beautiful campus in Caldwell, Idaho. Its distinctive PEAK curriculum challenges students to attain competencies in the four knowledge peaks of the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and a professional field, enabling them to graduate with an academic major and three minors in four years. For more information on The College of Idaho, visit www.collegeofidaho.edu.