OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2022

18 OklahomaHorses • November / December 2022 PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE OSU Cline Center Offers Real-World Experience by Casie Bazay | Photos courtesy of Charles and Linda Cline Equine Teaching Center O klahoma State University is known as the land of the cowboys, so it probably comes as no sur- prise that the college is home to a state-of- the-art equine teaching facility not only for its students to enjoy, but on occasion, the general horsecentric public too. Named for the primary donor couple who are heavily involved in halter horses and the cattle-ranch industry, the Charles and Linda Cline Equine Teaching Cen- ter opened in February 2016 on 60 acres already in use by OSU’s Ferguson College of Agriculture. The facility consists of a teaching barn, small indoor arena, several outdoor arenas, indoor classrooms, feed and tack rooms, wash rack, and treatment area. Additional equine buildings include a concrete-block breeding shed, a pole barn for housing stallions, and 10,000 square feet of exercise paddocks. An additional 100-acre plot off-site is used for grazing and producing hay to feed the school’s equine herd. Seven full-time employees work at the Cline Center, including facility supervisor Steven Cooper and farm manager and lead instructor Marissa Chapa. Cooper helps with the hands-on classes and the breeding program, and Chapa instructs classes and manages the facility, pastures, property, horse herd, and horse sales. The Horse Herd The equine herd at OSU is made up of approximately 50 quarter horses, although numbers fluctuate from year to year based on the number of offspring produced. The horses are used for a variety of activities, including research, teaching, and OSU Extension programs such as STEM classes, horse-owner seminars, and camps. The goal is for every horse to be used for some type of activity. The broodmares and stallions have been secured through donations or have been raised from donated stock. Each year, some of the mares are bred to top sires in the industry on a donation basis in an effort to raise high-quality horses as replacements for the ones the Cline Center sells. Many of the two-year-old offspring are sold at the end of each spring as part of the sales preparation course, and the public also can find horses for sale on the Cline Center’s website. A mare named Fancy keeps a close eye on her foal. Fancy was assigned to OSU student Peyton Ferrell during a course on breeding and foaling at the Cline Equine Center.