UWRF Equi-Updates UWRF Equi-Updates
Welcome to April ’s edition of the UWRF Equ-Updates Newsletter. Each issue highlights the latest news and accomplishments from our equine department, including updates from faculty, student organizations, and competitive teams. As the semester begins to wind down, the pace in our equine community remains strong. This month features continued progress in our Equine Reproduction program, exciting milestones in the Colts in Training Sale preparation, and reflections on a successful postseason for our Hunt Seat and Western teams. From hands-on learning in the barn to achievements in the show arena and engagement across campus, April showcases the dedication, growth, and momentum that define the UWRF equine program.
Notes from Faculty & Staff
Dr. Jen Weinert-Nelson Assistant Professor Equine Program Director
It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of the 2026 Spring Semester and this academic year The time has flown by! It has been so exciting to see all of the activity and student involvement out at the farm over the past few months! This is our busiest time of the year – but it is also the best.
We have a lot to celebrate as we close out this semester – and a lot of work still yet to do! I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of the hard work that our students, staff, and faculty in our Equine Program have been putting in – from the Colts and Breeding Programs to our Rodeo and IHSA Teams to our student organizations like EPTA who have been spending so much time at the farm keeping our schoolies comfortable and happy. I want you to know that the time that you are putting in and the work that you are
doing is not going unnoticed! This includes all of our student employees out at the farm. The amount of extra hours and effort they have been putting in to get our facility in the best condition possible as we head towards our Colts in Training Sale events is very much appreciated!
I hope that many of you will be able to join us for our 50th Anniversary Colt Sale events this coming Friday and Saturday. This weekend will present many opportunities for aour students to engage with alumni, industry, and our other partners across our campus and community. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Feature: 50th Colts In Training Sale Update
The preparation for the 50th Annual Colts in Training Sale is officially underway! Students are continuing to refine the skills they’ve spent months developing, while putting the final touches on their colts. As the sale draws closer, there’s a lot happening behind the scenes to properly market these talented equine athletes.
One of the most anticipated parts of the process is sale picture week. It’s both rewarding and exciting, as students finally get to see the transformation of their
colts from how they arrived to how they look now: big, sleek, and shiny, ready to impress buyers. With the help of an assembly line that includes hairspray, baby powder, hair gel, Show Sheen, baby oil, and plenty of brushing, each colt is prepped to look its absolute best. These photos are essential for showcasing the colts in the sale catalog, on social media, on the website, and across other marketing platforms.
In addition to photos, sale videos are also being produced to highlight each colt’s abilities. Students create videos demonstrating their colt at the walk, trot, and lope, along with any unique or marketable skills. These can include spinning, swimming, standing quietly while someone stands on them, or even carrying a flag. With the sale also available online, these videos play a key role in attracting potential buyers and increasing each colt’s value.
We will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Colts In Training Sale with multiple events on Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd . On Friday we will begin by offering tours of the Campu s Farm to alumni at 4 pm followed by an Alumni Event at Glenn Park where our UWRF equine community will have the opportunity to connect while enjoying some great food and entertainment. On Saturday, the Riding Preview will begin at 11 AM at the Campus Farm to be followed immediately by lunch and our second alumni event The Sale will begin at 2 PM. There will also be a third alumni event - a Kentucky Derby Watch Party after the sale beginning at 5:30 PM on Saturday. We hope many of you can join us for these events to celebrate this milestone!
Be sure to check out the website https://www.uwrfcoltsale.com/, and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/uwrfcoltsale/, for updates, information, and a closer look at this year’s incredible group of colts!
Feature: Results from IHSA Semi-Finals and Zones
The University of Wisconsin–River Falls IHSA Hunt Seat Show Team was proudly represented by four riders at the IHSA Zone 7 Championships, hosted by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, on March 28–29. This competition brought together some of the top collegiate riders in the zone, creating a very competitive and rewarding environment for all participants.
Competing for UWRF were Brooke Liebenstein in Intermediate Flat and Intermediate Fences, Hailey Poepping and Jerzie Lerch in Limit Fences, and Kinsey Luebker in Walk Trot. The team delivered strong performances across multiple classes, showcasing their skill and dedication on a big stage. Brooke earned sixth place in Intermediate Flat and fourth place in Intermediate Fences, while Hailey and Jerzie placed eighth and ninth in Limit Fences, respectively. Kinsey also had a successful ride, finishing sixth in Walk Trot.
Overall, the team represented UWRF with professionalism and determination, gaining valuable experience by riding and competing against some of the best riders in the region. Their performances reflected the strength of the UWRF Hunt Seat program and marked a successful showing at this year’s Zone Championships.
The University of Wisconsin–River Falls Western Show Team celebrated an outstanding postseason as five talented riders advanced to the IHSA postseason competition in Murray, Kentucky, on March 21–22. After earning their qualifications at North Dakota State University’s Qualifying Show, excitement and anticipation continued to build as the team prepared to represent UWRF on the postseason stage.
Leading the way, Aubrey Arnold competed in Open Horsemanship, while Cady Ninnemann represented UWRF in Level 2 Horsemanship and earned an impressive fifth-place finish in Ranch Riding. In Level 1 Horsemanship, Eli Boe and Carly Boers both delivered strong performances, placing sixth and seventh, respectively. Maddie Stalsberg rounded out the team’s success with an eighth-place finish in Rookie Horsemanship.
These results reflect the dedication, hard work, and competitive spirit of the UWRF riders, marking a memorable and successful postseason for the Western Show Team.
Breeding Program Check In
We are right in the thick of breeding season here, and it’ s been an exciting and busy time for our Equine Breeding Program. Foaling season is nearing its finish, with just three mares left to foal, and we ’ re eagerly anticipating their arrivals in May. In the meantime, we have been regularly ultrasounding mares, collecting our stallions, and rebreeding via artificial insemination to ensure all mares are bred back for next Spring. Our students have been very busy lending helping hands with these activities both during and outside of class times and are gaining valuable hands-on experience in equine reproductive management!
In addition to the activity in the barn, our students have been gaining
valuable hands-on experiences the season. our students opportunity to Krishawn Pleasant Valley Service, yearling and Dr. Laura from Stillwater Equine Veterinary Services evaluate one of our UWRF stallions, “Bruno” , to help get him into the best shape possible to finish off the breeding season. These experiences complement our other regular class and breeding program work, providing students with real-world exposure to important aspect of equine management and veterinary care.
It’ s always rewarding time year as we watch these foals arrive begin to see results of thoughtful planning come life. We ’ re looking forward to sharing more updates!
FFA Ag Tech Contest
On Saturday March 28th, high students from all over Wisconsin tried their hand at the Technology Contest that took on our Campus Farm. This is event open to local FFA members to help them get real
River Falls students were able to help run the contest to provide quality performance and classes for the contest participants. A big thank you to all of our students volunteers – your help made it possible to put on a high quality contest for our FFA visitors. You all did such an amazing job representing UWRF and our Equine Program!
This contest also would not have been possible without alumni collaboration. A big hank you to our official judge, Jordan Kurtz, for providing your expertise during the day and allowing for students to learn from your knowledge. Jordan a UWRF graduate, former Colts in Training student and teaching
assistant, and an accomplished competitor and collegiate judging standout earning top honors at the World, Congress and NRHA Futurity Intercollegiate Judging Contests. She continues to compete at a high level in AQHA and NRHA events, recently training and exhibiting multiple futurity champions and earning Reserve World Champion in Ranch Riding at the 2023 AQHA World Show.
those of you interested in learning a bit more about Jordan placed our class of 2-yr old geldings, comprised of horses from our Colts In Training Program, out the video post on our Colts In Training Facebook Page!
UWRF Internship Spotlight
semester, we are following one of our UWRF students, Autumn Gilbertson as she completes a month internship at an equine reproduction in Oklahoma. Each month, Autumn will us on all the new skills and great experiences she is gaining through her internship opportunity. Read on for her monthly update!
Autumn Gilbertson – Royal Vista Southwest
Hey, it’s Autumn again with an update from Royal Vista Southwest in Oklahoma! I have reached the halfway point in my internship!!! I can’t believe that it has been three whole months already! I am still loving this internship, and every day I learn something new!
Foaling season is still going strong, but starting to slow down some. Breeding season is at its peak right now. Here are some different steps involved in Equine breeding.
First, there are the different insemination processes. One is live cover breeding, where the stallion makes contact with the mare to breed her. This is a process that Royal Vista Southwest does not offer, but it offers a variety of other artificial insemination processes. Artificial insemination can be done with cooled fresh, or frozen semen. The timing of when to breed a mare depends on which semen option you have. Fresh cooled semen works best when the mare is close to ovulating, within 24 hours. Frozen semen is best as close to ovulation as possible, and is usually done right after ovulation. There is also a newer technique called ICSI, which is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. This process is completed by doing a TransvaginalAspiration to harvest oocytes or eggs from the mare. Then the oocytes are injected with a sperm cell and incubated for about a week to develop into an embryo.
Once you have an embryo, there are three things that you can do with it. One is to let the original mare carry the foal to term. The second option, which is what Royal Vista Southwest specializes in, is embryo transfer. This is when you flush an embryo out of a donor mare and transfer the embryo into a recipient mare, who is in the same or similar stage of her cycle as the donor. There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a recipient
mare, including cycle stage, size, temperament, and previous foaling history. One reason to use a recipiant mare versus letting a mare carry is the ability to have more than one foal per year from one mare. The third option is often used in ICSI embryos, and that is a process called Vitififcation, which is when you freeze the embryo, which can then be thawed and transferred at a later date.
Campus Connections & Club Updates
RODEO CLUB
In addition to regular meetings, the team has been preparing for upcoming competitions and putting in the work to improve both in and out of the arena. The rodeo team will be traveling to Brookings, South Dakota, from April 9–12 to compete in the Jackrabbit Stampede Rodeo at SDSU. Members will be competing in goat tying, breakaway roping, and barrel racing. The team is excited for the weekend and ready to represent the Falcons!
PRE -VET CLUB
The UWRF Pre-Vet club prioritizes providing our members with hands-on activities to cultivate their leadership and veterinary experiences. We have been busy with wet labs, for instance, our Fear Free Wet Lab on April 9th, where we educated our members about humane, fear-free handling techniques and provided
opportunities to apply what they learned. As the semester wraps up, we are preparing for next fall with our election nominations and voting; our new officer team will be announced at our meeting on April 27th. To enable us to provide our members with unique educational opportunities, we will be fundraising for the next semester with a brat fry at Festival in Hudson from 10 A.M. – 6 P.M. At our last meeting, on May 4th in AGSCI 200 at 7 P.M., we are inviting our community to celebrate our senior members with free food and a student panel, facilitating education about their preparation for vet school with a Q&A.
Alumni Spotlight:
Kyla Smith
I began my journey with UWRF through the 2011 Colts in Training class, where I trained a sorrel filly named UWRF Mojitomescalito. The class itself helped me choose to attend UWRF in the first place, and with Nathan O’Connor ’s guidance I was paired with a safe, gentle mare that matched my riding background.
I graduated from UWRF in 2011 with a B.S. (Equine emphasis) and initially pursued veterinary medicine, working with veterinarians and briefly attending LMU in Harrogate, TN, before realizing it wasn’t the right path for me.
In 2016, I joined Purina Animal Nutrition as an equine feed sales representative and later supported both horse and companion animal nutrition. A huge highlight was helping build a Purina & UWRF feed partnership and mentoring UWRF interns through our feed sales internship program.
In 2024, I moved into exotic animal nutrition with Mazuri Exotic Animal Nutrition (Purina’s sister company), covering an eight-state territory and supporting zoos, exotic animal breeders, and retail stores.
Today, my husband Mike and I live in Hudson, WI. We have two dogs, a miniature dwarf horse, and three goats. I’m grateful to the Colts in Training program and to Nathan for an experience that shaped my time at UWRF and continues to influence my career!
Save the Dates!
50th Anniversary Colts In Training Sale
Friday, May 1st 4:00 PM – Campus Farm Tours 6:00 PM – Alumni Event @ Glenn Park
Saturday, May 2nd 11:00 AM – Riding Preview 12:30 PM – Alumni Event & Luncheon 2:00 PM – Sale 5:30 PM – Derby Watch Party Alumni Event