The past two weeks I’ve been along to a couple of career’s days to advertise the Certificate II in Equine Industry, Agriculture and Horse Racing courses that we offer as part of a student’s Victorian Certificate of Education (final highschool year).

When I completed my Certificate II in Horse Studies, I was able to do the course over the 12 months of year 11, but gain a Certificate II qualification and have this extra subject count towards my then TER (now ATAR). It meant I could still do 5 subjects in year 12, but also have my Cert II add an extra 10% to my score.

The students about at the career’s days were year 10 students, looking into what subjects are on offer for their final VCE years. Some I noted were already taking part in one of our Certificate II courses, however.

For those year 9 students who are looking at what they can do to increase their VCE score, or those parents who want to be able to let their children study horses but not have it take away from the 5 subjects they’re planning to complete in year 12, consider looking into doing the course instead over years 10 and 11.

This way they leave highschool with a qualification and have the chance to still do 5 subjects in year twelve, or drop down to 4 subjects for year 12 but have their Cert II count towards their end of year score. It could take some pressure off for them.

“Lessons from your horse: When you’re short tempered, let me teach you how to slog around the pasture for an hour before you catch me.”

I’ve received another email from uni, requesting participants for a survey for a student that is undertaking an honours project.  Emily Martin is carrying out her project with regards to working with equine mesenchymal stem cells.

She’s set up a questionnaire that would take about five minutes of anyone’s time – you don’t have to be a horse owner or trainer.  The idea is to better understand what the current perceptions are with regards to stem cell therapies for equines.  The questionnaire is designed for Emily to be able to “gauge current opinions and knowledge of stem cells as a therapy in horses”.

For those interested in helping out, you can find the survey at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/stemcellsatCSU.

“Of all creature God made at the Creation, there is none more excellent, or so much to be respected as a horse.” – Bedouin legend

One of my work colleagues sent throug this link as she thought it might be of interest.  I don’t know a lot about genetics and the genetics of colour with horses, but am definitely interested in it.

Of particular interest may be the coat colour calculator which can be found via the Horse Testing website.

There’s nothing like the internet for free horse information, so for those interested in genetics, colours and diseases, this informative site is worth checking out.