The Bluegrass Community and Technical College has partnered with New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program to allow students of BCTC's Equine Program to learn at New Vocations' Lexington facility. The BCTC Equine program provides instruction on essential skills required for a variety of careers in the horse industry and all students receive hands-on instruction in basic horse care management learning industry-accepted standards and techniques in the program's foundational lab course. Students taking this lab at New Vocations will learn with recently retired racehorses as they transition to be adopted for second careers as part of New Vocations' mission: Rehab, Retrain, Rehome.
The partnership will allow the BCTC Equine program to grow without incurring any extra costs for the college, enabling it to accommodate more students each semester who are interested in pursuing careers in the equine industry.
“The BCTC Equine Program provides exceptional training to students wanting to pursue careers in the horse industry,” said New Vocations Thoroughbred Program Director Anna Ford. “The concept of having BCTC students learn basic horse care while working with our horses has been a great experience and lines up well with our mission. Having the extra help will be extremely helpful as finding and keeping good help in the barn continues to be a challenge.”
Upon completion of the EQS 104 lab, BCTC Equine students are eligible for internship placement in equine breeding operations and veterinary clinics and they can continue their hands-on training with additional Thoroughbred-specific lab courses during the summer semester at the Thoroughbred Training Center, which includes internship placement at Thoroughbred yearling and training operations.
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