Equine Science

The Missouri Department of Agriculture reports that Missouri ranks third nationally in horse population. With an estimated horse population of 200,000 horses, the total value of all breeds exceeds $400 million and operating expenses are more than $200 million annually. Equine science is important to a growing number of our students in Animal Science at MU, with approximately 20% of our current students having an interest in horses. This number does not reflect the number of non-majors here at MU that are potentially interested in equine science. Due to these numbers, the MU Equine Program is a popular and growing component of the Division of Animal Science.

Overview

The MU Equine Teaching Facility currently houses a quarter horse breeding program, with care and management of these horses being the cornerstone of our coursework. This herd consists on our stallion, Starlets Charmer, approximately 8 high quality broodmares, as well as various young stock (weanlings, yearlings and two-year old) that are offered for sale each November (link to auction). We usually house 15-20 MU owned horses at a time. Some of our horses have been MU raised, but many of them were received through generous donations from MU supporters. We are very proud of our commitment to raising athletic horses with great dispositions and marketable bloodlines. Check out our “Meet our Horses” page for more information on specific animals.

History

The MU Equine herd was begun in December of 1957 with the donation of six horses from Robert Sutherland of Overland Park, Kansas. From this core breeding herd, all geldings were kept and used to handle cattle and for class work. All fillies raised by this breeding program were kept back to increase the size of the MU horse herd.
In 1968, in recognition of the established bloodlines obtained in the MU herd, the herd was moved to the Wurdack Farm, near Cooks Station in Crawford and Dent Counties. At this time the entire herd consisted of forty-three horses. The herd consisted of forty-three horses (mares, fillies, geldings, and one stallion). At this time the Universities breeding stallion was Commando Star, a stallion with good disposition and great cow sense who had been donated to the University of Missouri’s Equine Program by Mr. Sutherland.
In 1969 Bar Le Top, a stallion belonging to Kenneth and Mary Botner (Columbia, Missouri), was donated to the MU Equine program and, subsequently, added to the breeding bloodlines of the MU herd.

MU Online Horse Auction

Each November the MU Equine Program offers a select group of horses for sale. These horses are of various ages, and have been through our Equine Behavior and Training class. Each horse comes with complete health records and daily training journals. Our goal is to place our horses in long term homes, so we want to make sure that you know everything we know about each horse! Bidding occurs on-line so buyers know the current price and can bid accordingly. This year we will be having our Sale Horse Preview and BBQ on November 8th, from 12:00-5:00 with the Online Auction closing at 7:00pm on November 13th. For more information visit link to sales site or call Marci Jennings at (573) 884-7836; jenningsmar@missouri.edu.

Ways to Donate

Horses
Monetary Donations
Supplies and Equipment