Horsemanship and Equitation
One course doesn’t fit all, so whether you are an
experienced rider or not, you will start learning and developing the right
skills to become a better balanced seat rider. Group instruction is
offered to all level of riders. Students may chose to ride either
stockseat or huntseat during their twice weekly riding lessons.
Additional practice riding times are offered during the week as well.
Throughout the lessons, an emphasis is placed on developing the correct
rider position so that the rider can achieve balance, feel and unity during
the horse and rider partnership.
Advanced Horsemanship and Equitation
Students enrolled in this course get twice the riding
time and experience with daily riding lessons. This course breaks the
10-week quarter into two ‘terms’ with the student riding huntseat for one
term and stockseat for the other. Besides the daily riding
opportunities, students are assigned one horse for each term, so the can
establish a true partnership and learn training techniques specific to their
mount. It’s a great opportunity to see and feel the results of your
work!
Horse Health
Prevention of disease is the key to good health. This course stresses
that the more you know about diseases and disease processes, the better
equipped you are to prevent them. Students learn how to work with
veterinary professions to plan and implement disease prevention programs as
well as learn the necessary skills to handle many emergency health
situations. Labs generally cover injection methods, blood sampling,
performing basic laboratory analysis, dental care and emergency first aid.
Field trips to large equine hospitals are often planned.
Horse Breeding and
Selection
The ATI Equine Center places a strong emphasis on reproduction and our well
equipped breeding laboratory make this course a student favorite!
Hands on laboratories include: semen collection; semen evaluation;
artificial insemination; managing the pre-parturient mare; foaling and foal
handling; and handling the breeding stallion. An understanding of
reproductive physiology is a must and lecture topics stress this!
ATI’s 20 plus broodmares and 5 resident stallions provide a learning
atmosphere that matches many commercial breeding operations.
Equine Reproductive Management
‘Experiential learning’ is what makes this course unique. Students
become a part of the breeding operation at ATI’s Equine Center.
Students participate in every activity from foaling out mares to cooling and
freezing semen. Incoming client mares and stallions along with ATI’s
breeding stock make spring quarter a hectic one! Although we stress
hands-on, mastery skills learning, understanding theories and current topics
in reproductive research is important too. In 2007, students had the
opportunity to see researchers from the Smithsonian working to improve
reproduction and genetic diversity in endangered equine species at ‘The
Wilds’, North America’s largest nature conservatory.
Saddlehorse Breaking and Training
One student, one training horse, that’s what students can look forward to
when enrolling in this course. This course helps to bridge the gap
between college courses and industry experience. Many of the young
horses that we work with in breaking and training are client owned horses
while the remaining horses are ATI owned youngstock getting prepared for
sales. In addition to training and behavior modification techniques,
students also develop problem solving and team work skills.