A bit further down from the P20 parking lot on Barstow Avenue, right next to O’Neill Park, is Fresno State’s very own Quarter Horse Unit. The permanent home to the 25 horses owned by Fresno State, the Quarter Horse Unit employees also facilitate the care and feeding of the over 100 horses housed on campus.
Mornings start early for the Quarter Horse Unit members; feeding starts at 5:45 a.m. for the horses, along with their daily health checks. This process takes about an hour and a half for the team. Before students can head to their 8 a.m. classes, some cleaning up is required after the horses finish feeding, Faculty Manager Alyx Iared said.
The main focus of the Quarter Horse Unit is to give students as much experience as possible with all aspects of the horse industry.
A big part of this is the breeding of horses. Students in the advanced horse production class will be assigned a mare (female horse) to take care of, and participate in foal watching, which includes watching a horse be born and the naming of the newborn horse. After a horse turns about 2 years old, they begin training with faculty, which then leads students into the colt training class.
The Quarter Horse Unit is composed of faculty, students and volunteers. All majors are welcome to volunteer, whether it be they’re looking for some work experience or if they’d just like to help out.
This will be Alyx Iared’s second year overseeing the unit, and her third year teaching at Fresno State. Even with the responsibilities of being faculty manager, Alyx Iared teaches one class a semester, with stable management in the fall and advanced horse production in the spring.
Alyx Iared’s not alone at the Quarter Horse Unit. She works alongside her husband, Dr. Fabio Iared, a veterinarian and faculty member at Fresno State, who helps with all of the breeding. She also works with fellow faculty member, Jason Contreras, who works as the trainer for the Quarter Horse Unit, and veterinarian Dr. Gayle Obanon who helps with the health of the horses.
Aside from the faculty, there are over 100 students working with horses at the unit, 26 volunteers and Gertrude the cat, who helps keep pests to a minimum.
Everyone at the Quarter Horse Unit also works closely with both the equestrian team and the rodeo team, if they’re not already a part of those teams.
“There’s a lot of overlap,” Alyx Iared said.
The equestrian team comprises of the head coach, Eric Hubbard, assistant coaches Mary Brown and Sara Tuck and 40 students. The rodeo team is managed by coach Uhuru Adem, which has 45 students, and happens to be Fresno State’s longest-running club sport.
Two students who are a part of the Quarter Horse Unit, Daisy Godoy and Liseth Rodriguez, both encourage other students to come out and get involved.
“There’s nothing else like being with horses,” Godoy said.
Students can show their support by coming out to the next equestrian team event on Oct. 31 at the Student Horse Center or volunteering at the Quarter Horse Unit.
Students interested in volunteering can email Alyx Iared at [email protected] with their student ID number to get started.
Correction: This story was adjusted on Oct. 28 to correct the spelling of Alyx Iared’s name.
