NSU
offers new course
Learn to train horses at home, at your own pace, with a professional
to help you step-by-step, and earn a community education Certificate
of Recognition from New Mexico State University (NMSU).
And if you like colorful horses you can also study Coat Color Genetics
and earn a noncredit certificate. It's all part of the distance learning
program being offered online by the Grants Campus, according to Patricia
Strange, coordinator, Community Education.
"New Mexico residents have historically been associated with
horses and horsemanship," Strange said. "And this online
program gives us a chance to provide courses of interest to virtually
anyone in our statewide community." Students register for the
courses with NMSU, but receive their instruction by computer. Students
without a personal computer can make arrangements to use on campus
computers.
"Students are given a link which provides the text for each lesson.
At the end of the lesson, the student takes a short quiz and writes
a brief narrative explaining his or her training progress," Strange
explains. Internationally known author/trainer Don Blazer, developer
of the program, sends comments and advice to the students to assist
them as they practice. Each week students meet in a chat room to discuss
problems and exchange ideas with Blazer and other students.
Training Performance Horses is a course which takes the student from
before the first saddle to the flying change of leads. Students learn
to develop a feeding program to match the work the horse will do,
and they get instruction on how to train the horse to perform every
exercise from proper stopping to side-passing, half-passing, rollbacks,
two-tracking and haunches in.
The course is not about western or English, said Strange. It is a
broad-based course which allows the students to learn the process
for preparing any horse for high levels of performance.
Coat Color Genetics provides the information and tools needed to make
statistical predictions of the coat colors of foals based on the genetic
makeup of the sire and dam. This is a course for anyone interested
in the color breeds.
"The financial foundations of many ranches and breeding programs
are built on the ability to produce 'color'," Strange said. "Coat
Color Genetics explains how genes work and how to use the Punnett
Square to predict gene combinations."
Coat Color Genetics is an eight-lesson course with instructors Dr.
Jim and Lynda McCall. Students will have the opportunity to meet with
the instructors weekly in a chat room.
More information, samples from lessons and samples of quiz questions
can be seen at www.donblazer.com.
The course fee is $200 for either course.
Registration may be made by calling NMSU at (505) 287-6670, or (505)
287-7981. Students may start either course at any time. There is no
time limit for completion of either course.
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