University of Kentucky College of Agriculture

Kentucky Equine Industry Joins Forces To Assist Horse Owners Affected By Deadly Tornadoes

Multiple equine organizations in the Commonwealth have joined forces to assist horse owners who have been affected by last week's tornado outbreak. Equine and ag-specific donations will be accepted at the Kentucky Horse Park Dec. 18-20, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Signage will point donors to the exact location behind the Alltech Arena.

Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) employees and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment extension agents have been working diligently to create county-specific lists of items that are needed immediately. Though cleanup efforts will be ongoing, the most-needed equine items requested include buckets, winter blankets, halters, lead ropes, wheelbarrows, plastic totes, grooming supplies, water hoses, hay bags, wheelbarrows, muck tubs, pitchforks, shovels and first-aid supplies. A complete list of needs can be found here.

“We are honored to be a part of this relief effort,” said Nicole Rivera, Interim Deputy Executive Director. “Our location right off I-75 will hopefully make drop off of materials and items easy. As a park designed to celebrate the human-horse bond, we are thankful to be able to assist horse owners – and their horses – in their time of need.”

“The KDA has created an incredible system to identify needs by county,” said Sarah Coleman, Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Council. “The Horse Council is thankful for the opportunity to partner with our brothers and sisters in ag to coordinate deliveries of supplies from Central Kentucky to those hardest hit by the storms.”

Delivery of all donated goods will be provided by Brook Ledge Horse Transportation.

“The ability to give back to the horse industry that is so good to us is very important to the entire staff of Brook Ledge Inc.,” said Ashley VanMeter of Brook Ledge Inc. “We are humbled by the outpouring of support for the equine community and look forward to being able to assist them in any way we can.”

Donations will be accepted in the North Exhibit Hall of the Alltech Arena: Kentucky Horse Park 4089 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511. Follow signs for Kentucky Horse Council. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Donations will begin being delivered to specific counties on Tuesday.

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Racetrack Managers Program Offers Training To First Group Of Track Professionals, Announces a Second Course

With its online courses continuing to attract national and international participation and the first edition of its in-person Grader School program set to be held in mid-September at Keeneland, the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment's Racetrack Managers Certification Program (RMCP), and National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) today announced that it will be launching a second in-person Grader School course in the future.

The Racecourse Manager Certification program curriculum is designed for those already engaged in careers with turf surface maintenance. The online classes are free. Individuals who complete the video courses and pass a test that requires a $50 fee will receive a certificate of completion from the University of Kentucky. Participating Thoroughbred racetracks that enroll their personnel will receive credit toward future accreditation by the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance.

The online course offered by the RMCP, “Turf as an Equine Sports Surface,” provides training for professionals by experts from within and outside of horse racing. The second course, dubbed “Grader School,” will debut September 13-15 at Keeneland and offers hands-on training in the use of motor graders for maintaining a safe and consistent depth of dirt and synthetic surfaces.

The first session of Grader School will include a select group of five racetrack maintenance professionals seeking to acquire advanced skills and experience to improve their career progression. The class will be taught by veteran racetrack superintendents Dennis Moore and Alfredo Laureano. Moore is a Southern California-based track superintendent with nearly 50 years of racing experience while Laureano is the track superintendent at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. Both Moore and Laureano have extensive experience with both dirt and synthetic surfaces. Their experiences include maintenance through a range of use and climate conditions and experience with both older graders and state-of-the-art equipment.

The inaugural enrollees for Grader School include:
Brian Brown, Track Maintenance Skilled Laborer, Fair Grounds Race Course (Louisiana)
Derek Pettinger, Assistant Superintendent, Remington Park (Oklahoma)
Keith Stockman, Superintendent, Delaware Park Race Track
Richard Sweeney, Assistant Track Superintendent, Maryland Jockey Club
Stirling “Harrison” Young, Assistant Superintendent, Turf, Colonial Downs (Virginia)

Two scholarships that cover class tuition and include support for lodging expenses have been awarded. The Equinox Racing Award will go to Harrison Young of Colonial Downs. The Horsemen's Track and Equipment scholarship will be awarded to Derek Pettinger of Remington Park. These award recipients were chosen based on their potential for future leadership in racetrack maintenance.

“Maintaining a safe, fair, and consistent racetrack is truly an art form. Experienced and proficient grading of the surface is one of the most vital keys to this entire process for the safety of our world-class equine and human athletes,” said David Richardson, Executive Director of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “Richard (Sweeney) and the rest of the first class for this program are young and dedicated and the future of our industry.”

Based on the large number of applications and inquiries, a second session of the Grader School will be scheduled in the future. Opportunities for hands-on experience will be extended to both new and experienced operators.

Sign up to receive information about RMCP offerings here. Learn more about the Racecourse Managers Certificate Program here. Enroll in the “Turfgrass as an Equine Surface” course here.

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About the University of Kentucky Ag Equine Programs
UK Ag Equine Programs serves as the front door to equine work being done at the University of Kentucky, representing the breadth and depth of all things equine in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. It exemplifies the college's long-term commitment to serving the equine industry and horse enthusiasts regionally, nationally, and internationally.

About the Equine Sports Turfgrass Alliance
The Equine Sports Turfgrass Alliance, (ESTA) is a recently formed group of university and industry turfgrass experts in partnership with Dr. Mick Peterson. ESTA as an organization is dedicated to conducting research and providing education about turfgrass surfaces for racetrack, eventing, polo, and other-use equine surfaces. This education event is their first offering. However, future research and educational opportunities for horse owners, trainers, and equine facility managers are currently being developed. It is the goal of ESTA to bring science-backed maintenance practices to the forefront of equine turfgrass systems.

About the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance
The NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance is a standing organization formed in 2008 with the goal of establishing national uniform standards in the areas of safety and integrity. Alliance accreditation standards cover six broad areas: (1) injury reporting and prevention; (2) creating a safer racing environment; (3) aftercare and transition of retired racehorses; (4) uniform medication, testing and penalties; (5) safety research; and (6) wagering security. The standards are revised annually to adopt new and progressively more stringent requirements.

About the NTRA
The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky., is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare and integrity of Thoroughbred racing through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement and corporate partner development. The NTRA owns and manages the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the Eclipse Awards; the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC); NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and Horse PAC®, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com and social media.

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KENA At Spy Coast Farm: Minimizing Equine Impact On Water Quality

The Kentucky Horse Council announced the topic for the August Kentucky Equine Networking Association (KENA) dinner will be Equines and the Environment: Minimizing Impact on Water Quality. The dinner will be held on Tuesday, August 31, at Spy Coast Farm's Equine Education Center in Lexington. KENA is a dinner and educational series geared toward equine professionals, horse owners and riders, and other equine enthusiasts.

Schedule of the evening's events:

Tour of Spy Coast Farm 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Networking: 6:30 – 7 PM
Dinner and Presentation: 7 – 8 PM

Location: Spy Coast Farm Equine Education Center, 3700 Newtown Pike, Lexington, KY 40511

The guest speaker for the evening is Tammy Barnes, Cooperative Extension Associate for University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. She will offer KENA attendees:

Insight into the best equine management practices for the preservation of water quality on horse farms and equine facilities.
Affordable, implementable steps to minimize the environmental impact of manure
Possible funding sources for these measures
Additional topics discussed will include riparian areas, heavy-use areas, water capture and composting

KENA provides an educational and social venue for equine professionals and horse enthusiasts from all breeds and disciplines. Organized by the Kentucky Horse Council, KENA provides the opportunity for attendees to share ideas, business strategies and knowledge; and to obtain up-to-date information on horse and farm management, as well as on issues affecting the equine industry. KENA is made possible by the generous support of Dinsmore Equine Law Group, WesBanco, Neogen, University of Louisville College of Business Equine Industry Program, KESMARC Kentucky and Equine Land Conservation Resource.

For details and reservations, visit https://kentuckyhorse.org/KENA. Tickets are $40.

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Pasture Renovations Will Help Spendthrift Farm Implement Rotational Grazing

Spendthrift Farm is one of Lexington's iconic Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations. Due to recent expansion, the farm wanted to renovate some unused fields and develop them into pastures to use in a rotational grazing system. They turned to forage experts with the Horse Pasture Evaluation Program in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment for their recommendations.

“The Horse Pasture Evaluation Program is a good tool for all horse farms to use,” said Robbie Moreland, Spendthrift maintenance manager. “It gives us options and guidelines that we can use to develop the land to suit our needs.”

Spendthrift Farm has worked with Krista Lea, UK research analyst, and Ray Smith, UK forage extension specialist, for a number of years to evaluate and renovate fields on their main farm through the program.

“They have done a good job of implementing grazing rotations, as well as removing fescue from some key broodmare fields and having good success with over seeding,” Lea said. “This was our first endeavor with them trying to completely re-establish a pasture.”

The pasture renovation that began in summer 2019 includes 130 acres of an adjoining property the farm purchased a few years back but had not fully incorporated into their operation.

“The land was physically rough, and the grass was consumed by weeds. We decided the best thing to do was just to start completely over again and develop a grass pasture,” Moreland said.

Farm management wanted to establish pastures that were healthy and beneficial for their horses and good for the natural environment. In 2019, they opted to kill off the existing vegetation using tillage, rather than a traditional field burndown with glyphosate. They reseeded the fields with a mixture of bluegrass, orchardgrass and perennial ryegrass. Even though Central Kentucky experienced a drought last fall, the seed germinated and created a lush stand of grass.

Moreland said Spendthrift plans to start fencing the renovated pasture and building a barn this fall, with the goal of allowing horses to graze in the pasture in the spring. Moreland said it was important to the farm to slowly and methodically prepare the ground for grazing.

“We would like to keep these pastures lush,” Moreland said. “To do this, we are going to use it as a pasture rotation with our main farm. The new pastures and barn will be used for our mares and weanlings.”

Spendthrift Farm is just one of the farms the Horse Pasture Evaluation Program advises each year. From its beginnings in 2005 to 2019, the program conducted more than 250 evaluations on horse farms of all sizes and breeds. In 2020, Lea and her student interns have evaluated nearly 30 farms. This is the highest number of operations they have serviced in any one year.

“A high-quality pasture is beneficial to both horses and the environment,” Lea said. “It allows horses to select the best possible forage and stay away from undesirable weeds. We know that good quality pasture maintains a lot of cover, and that reduces soil erosion, prevents nutrients from leaching off that pasture and maintains the soil that is there.”

More information about the program is available here.