Hope y’all had a good Thanksgiving! We’re sticking with the history theme this week, but we’re going back a lot further than football! One of our friends at the Equine Science Center found a cool exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History that showcased the evolution of horses. Let’s see what she learned!

It’s certainly getting a bit chilly down here on the farm! I love watching the leaves change color. This also means that a certain holiday is right around the corner: Thanksgiving! Lots of things come to mind when I think about the holiday. Of course there’s good food, spending time with those you care about, and being thankful, but I also think of football.

I can’t believe it’s already November! I hope y’all know what that means: it’s time for the annual Rutgers Equine Science Center Evening of Science and Celebration! Everyone is invited to join us at my favorite event of the year. Make some room in your calendar on Thursday, November 9th from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. You can register for the event by going to https://go.rutgers.edu/Evening2023.

Looks like Halloween is just around the corner! Good thing that involves one of my favorite things: treats! (And carving pumpkins with my friends at the Equine Science Center, of course.) Did you know that even though you can’t share your candy with your hooved friends, there’s plenty of sweet treats for us too? Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Even though it doesn’t quite seem like it here in NJ, winter is right around the corner! The first day of autumn was only last week, but I’ll be sure to take my time enjoying the weather before the seasons change again. In the meantime, we can always work on preparing for the colder months. Maybe they’ll come sooner for you if you live north of me!

If you thought my last blog was cool, wait until you read this one! Last time, we talked to some experts at Rutgers about their experience with researching horse behavior. Now, we’re kicking it up a notch and hearing from a leading expert in the horse behavior field: Dr. Sue McDonnell. Dr. McDonnell is the founding head of the Equine Behavior Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She is incredibly knowledgeable in equine physiology, behavior, and welfare, and she was generous enough to share her expertise with us!

I hope y’all are having a great start to the new school year! This week, we’re going to be doing a bit of extra learning, but don’t worry, it’s the fun kind. I wanted to talk to you guys about horse behavior, but I had to make sure I got the right information. So, I decided to consult with some of our experts right here at Rutgers!

I don’t know about you, but this summer really flew by for me! Everyone at the Equine Science Center certainly kept busy; check out some of my past blogs to read about what we were up to! Even though we all had a busy and fun summer, it’s time to start getting back to school. It’s pretty exciting for me since I love learning, and I’m especially excited to listen in on some of the horse-related classes here at Rutgers.

Wow! It seems that the folks at the Rutgers Equine Science Center have certainly been keeping themselves busy this summer! In June, you heard about how they went to Texas for the 2023 Equine Science Symposium, but this time they’re staying a bit more local. Last week, they attended the 2023 Hambletonian Continuing Education Seminar in East Rutherford, NJ.

There has been some exciting research happening at the Equine Science Center! You may remember I have talked about a research study being conducted with veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and equine assisted activities (EAA) in the past. Well, the results are finally in and they are exciting!