While students in many higher education equine science centers across the country enjoy hands-on experience with horses, Colorado State University’s program possesses an aspect that truly sets it apart: helping adoptable horses.
Humble Beginnings of The Adoptable Horse Program
The program, first launched as a pilot at the start of the fall semester during the 2017-2018 school year, was the result of a $508,000 grant funded by the Watershed Animal Fund, a division of the Arnall Family Foundation.
Foundation representatives, then overseers of The Right Horse Initiative before it moved to the purview of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), were just getting started with the Initiative when they approached Adam Daurio, director of the Temple Grandin Equine Center.
“They said ‘We love everything that the Temple Grandin Equine Center is doing,’” says Daurio. “They asked if I thought there was a partnership.”
He recognized the opportunity at hand.
“I said we’d love to help rehab some of the horses and then integrate them into Equine Assisted Services.”
With the grant secured, funding allowed for facility upgrades and the establishment of a Regional Training Facility for The Right Horse Initiative that initially served just eight horses. Although the number of horses served during the program’s pilot year was relatively small, the impact was nothing of the sort, as it proved without a doubt that the program’s big goals were right on track.
As a direct result of the grant, students enrolled in the university’s equine science program now receive training in the evaluation, handling, care, and training of horses in transition. While this was beneficial, what truly sets the program apart is its commitment, where possible, to placing available adoptable horses into the equine assisted services (EAS) and Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) homes, thereby filling a previously unmet need for these organizations.
The strength of the pilot program has allowed it to expand.
“We had success both of these semesters,” says Daurio. “Then we launched it full time, and it was incorporated into our equine sciences curriculum.”
The program has grown to now serve 15 horses per semester or 30 per year. At first, horses enrolled in the program came from nearby Dumb Friends League Harmony Equine Center in Franktown, Colo. Today, they come from several local ASPCA industry partner rescues.
Heartbeat of the Program
It’s the horses who are the heartbeat of the program, Daurio explains.
“What has made this program unique is that we are providing experiences [for the students] training these horses,” he says. While master instructors teach the courses, it’s the horses who are partnered with the students that play a tremendous role as the students learn about their evaluation, care, and rehabilitation.
Daurio explains that in a traditional class, one instructor works with a small group of students who go into the pens and get the horse assigned to them. Typically, the instructor will use one of the horses as a demonstration horse. Afterward, the students work with their horses on the techniques demonstrated by the instructor.
From the beginning, the main goal of the training was to create horses suitable for placement in EAS. But as other needs became evident, the horses were also trained to become suitable riding lesson partners for the CHA.
As can be expected, not every horse who goes through the program is suitable as a therapy or lesson horse. Horses who, for whatever reason, did not meet the criteria for either program are still trained to become solid citizens for the right adoptable home.
Program Selection
Horses for the program are selected by Cayla Stone, instructor for the program, along with several students. Stone and her students visit rescue facilities and evaluate 30 to 40 horses in a day, selecting only the top 15 for inclusion in the program.
“My whole goal for the program is getting the students experience with a variety of horses,” says Stone.
This variety of horses includes young and old horses; untrained or started; non-riding and riding horses. Regardless of whether the horse will be ridden, Stone guides students in selecting horses that can withstand—even if some maintenance is required—the workload of a semester.
She attributes part of her success with the horses, students, and program to the involvement of local trainers, clinicians, saddle fitters, massage therapists, veterinarians, farriers, and more who contribute to expanding the knowledge base of her students each semester.
“The business model mandates that each horse come for a minimum of a semester,” says Daurio. “If the horse has succeeded, we then assist the rescue partner, who owns the horse, in offering it for adoption.”
However, if everyone involved agrees that the horse would benefit from more time in the program, a request is made that the owning facility or rescue allow the horse to stay at CSU for a second semester.
Daurio further explains that the program is not just a riding program where the students simply sign up and ride these horses.
“It is a very science-based program,” he says. “The first thing we do with all the horses is a very thorough evaluation. They are weighed, photographed, and veterinarians come in and perform certain health examinations.”
This is done so that the animals coming into the program are appropriately handled, both mentally and physically. Students are taught to accept each horse as an individual, and an early expectation is that the horse they’re assigned may not be rideable, but will instead be trained to be a companion animal.
“We want the students to be scientists and to have animal welfare at the heart of everything they do,” says Daurio.
CSU students help the rescues to market the horses once they graduate from the program. Often this is accomplished via social media blasts using photos and videos of the horses created by the students.
Adoption Success Stories
Daurio is particularly proud that the Temple Grandin Equine Center has adopted five of the horses who graduated from the program to take part in the EAS that the facility offers. Stone has several success stories of her own to share. Some of her students, for example, have adopted their program horses, while two Thoroughbreds took part in the 2024 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover.
Going forward, the program hopes to capitalize on the growth it has experienced each year and continue to increase the number of horses served by getting them into adoptable homes where they enjoy lives where they are the best version of themselves.
If you are interested in donating to this worthwhile program, visit here.
This article about Colorado State University’s adoptable horse program appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!
