Dr. Amy McLean and her students spent time in Portugal where they spent time working with an 88-year-old woman and her donkeys to harvest potatoes. From left to right are Keylee Sayler, Katelynn Ewing, Dr. Amy McLean, and Lindsay Hankins.
In three years, the University of Wyoming went from having no equine program to having a fully developed program as well as a competitive horse judging team that has claimed reserve champions at American Quarter Horse Association Worlds and Quarter Horse Congress. The program also allowed four UW students to conduct ranch horse versatility clinics in Europe this summer.
In just over a month, the team, consisting of Dr. Amy McLean, Lacey Teigen, Cori Slingerland, Katelynn Ewing, Lindsay Hankins and AQHA intern, Keylee Sayler, taught four clinics in Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ireland to participants eager to learn more about western horsemanship and ranch horse versatility. These styles of horsemanship are growing in popularity in these European countries where most riders are schooled in the English discipline.
“I think they were all very excited to have clinicians there promoting western riding and the Quarter Horse breed as such a versatile horse” said Ewing, one of the clinicians from UW. “I’m sure a lot of it had to do with the American cowboy image- they really took to the idea of working cattle, roping, and riding in a western saddle!”
“But just because you know how to ride English does not mean you can ride Western,” Teigen added. “In the United Kingdom, we had a well-known horseman participate in our clinic. He jumped one of his horses over a six foot fence in an English saddle but when we put him in a western saddle, he looked like he was going to fall off of the reining horse.”
This was an opportunity to learn as well as teach for the Wyoming girls. In addition to conducting the clinics, the group traveled to three more countries to volunteer and learn. Although animals are rarely used as beasts of burden in the United States, equids such as donkeys are still being used for draft purposes in some countries.
“In Portugal, they are still using donkeys to do farm work. When we were there, we worked alongside an 88 year-old woman and her donkey digging up potatoes!” Dr. McLean said. “We also got the opportunity to do some volunteering at the Donkey Sanctuary in England which is home to over 2,000 donkeys and 100 mules. Besides giving these animals a home, the Sanctuary also has a therapeutic center where they use the animals for hippotherapy.”
Although some of the students have graduated, Dr. McLean and a few senior members of the original group are preparing for the opportunity to return to Europe and conduct more ranch horse versatility clinics.
