Learning Opportunities

Equestrian Studies students have the opportunity to pursue their area of interest in many different ways.  Equestrian faculty are very involved in helping each student find the summer job which best complements their education during the academic year.  The opportunity exists for students to receive academic credit for internships with professionals in the horse industry during time spent off campus.  Equestrian students may tailor their course work while on campus to encompass special areas of interest such as pre-veterinary medicine or pre-law with an equine slant.  Read on to see examples of some special learning and research opportunities.

Advanced Projects

Meet Bud Craighead (on right) and Lindsay Schoelen. Bud has taught our colt training class. Here he is pictured helping Lindsay with the first ride on her colt.

Internships

Meet Erin Cardea.  During her senior year, Erin participated in an internship as Stable Manager for Market Street, Inc. Market Street is the training facility for four-time Olympian Anne Kursinski. Erin worked for Anne as a groom during the breaks from her junior year at WWU.

"Working for Market Street gave me a bigger perspective on the hunter/jumper show world. . . The connections are incredible - working for one of the best meant I got to know the best farriers, the best vets, the best riders, the best grooms and managers, and the best trainers. Now I know what it takes to be the best." Pictured at right: Erin and Escapade, owned by the Escapade Group, waiting for Anne in the schooling area at a show in the Catskills.

Study Abroad

Equestrian students may choose to spend a semester studying with a University in a different country. Combining intercultural education with the love of horses is definitely the best of both worlds.

Meet Kim Ware

Kim spent the fall semester of her senior year studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia! "While I have been here I have seen amazing things, grown tremendously as a person, and made life long friends. Unexpected things happened over here that changed mylife forever. Study abroad is a great thing!"

Meet Genevieve Flieger

Genevieve (pictured above, center) spent the Spring semester of her junior year in Ireland studying at the University of Limerick.

" . . . I am having a great time and learning alot in Ireland. . . The place where the University of Limerick students ride is called Clonshire Equestrian Centre. . . They have over 120 acres of trails and cross country courses, and they have some really nice horses. I'm taking an equine reproduction class which is very interesting, along with classes in Traditional Irish music, Irish folklore and Contemporary European Society."

Genevieve emailed some terrific pictures when she was in Ireland. Wow, what a view (below)! We could not have painted one better than this:

"The most important attraction for tourists of the town of Cashel is the Rock. The Rock rises above the town and the surroundings, as the only elevated place in miles around.

The Rock is not just a rock. The Rock of Cashel used to be a royal center. In the early years this building was first used as an assembly place for kings and then years after it was used by the church and that is why a cathedral and a chapel were built there." from http://www.bamjam.net/Ireland/Cashel.html.