Student gets a break from her studies by working in the Penn State horse barns
If they didn't see them in the distance while tailgating on football Saturdays, many Penn Staters would not even know that Penn State had horse barns.
Though many also are unfamiliar with Penn State's agriculture program, the College of Agriculture was actually the first of the colleges established at Penn State. Housed by the agriculture program, Penn State's Equine Facilities include two horse barns with approximately 35 stalls, an indoor arena, a round pen, paddocks and pastures. Penn State offers an equine science minor through the animal science department in the College.
The horses of the equine science program are
used to educate students regarding handling, training and reproduction. The barn holds about 60 quarter horses, including stallions and mares that are maintained and bred in these facilities. Young horses are raised until they are two years old, at which point most of them are sold.
All horses are used extensively in a number of classes and in many other activities including the training of horse judging teams.
Students with a passion for horses are able to dedicate more of their time to working at the barns, participating in daily chores and taking care of the animals. Two students are able to live in the barn, and they take turns being on-call at the facilities to help with any chores or needs that the horses may have. When the students return home after class, they participate in afternoon chores that include delivering hay to the horses, replenishing their water, and bringing them to and from their stalls.
Not many college students can say that part of their job responsibilities includes being part of the birthing process, but Alek Tomazin knows what that is like firsthand. Since freshman year Alek has watched the horses grow up. The most exciting time of the year for her is when the mother is ready to give birth, and she is able to help raise baby horses, better known as foals.
Tomazin was offered the chance to live in the barns because her teacher recognized her ability to work well with horses. Instead of living in the barn, Tomazin spends two days a week helping with daily chores.
She has worked with horses since she was seven, and the barns offer an escape from her otherwise busy college student life. Horses have always been a part of her life, and she was happy that she could bring her passion with her to college and find her niche at the barns. Every day brings different challenges, but for her there is no better reward to watching a horse that was once sick being nursed back to health with her assistance. Tomazin chose to work there and help take care of the horses in hopes that one day the connections she made at Penn State will help her in her future career.
Judement Time
Alek Tomazin took her love for horses even further at Penn State. She knew what she was passionate about and enrolled herself in horse judging classes.
Traveling as far as Oklahoma Alek judges classes of horses based on their movement, thier build, and other characteristics. The knowledge that she learned in the classroom becomes vital when she has to explain her decision of why each horse was placed in a certain category.
