Thoroughbred Breeding at the Equine

Research Unit Batsheva Marks

Science, Discover and the Universe, Animal Science major

batshevamarks98@gmail.com

Horses in the herd At the unit, I had the opportunity to

work with several horses. The three

breeding broodmares are Cassie,

Adara, and Liberty. Belle and Nova,

Adara and Liberty’s 2017 foals, along

with Calvin, a 2016 foal, formed the

original herd of young horses. We also

have a horse babysitter for Calvin

and Belle, named Hannah.

During foaling season, we gained a

filly from Cassie, named Lily, a second

filly from Liberty, named Willow, and a

third filly from Adara.

Impact on me I decided to do this project as a way

to not only gain experience with

young horses, but to prove to myself

that a career in horses would be the

best path for me. This experience

showed that even at the crack of

dawn, I still love working with horses.

Working with future racehorses also

introduced me to the industry in a

controlled environment, where I can

learn about the industry and gain

experience, but not feel pressured to

do everything perfectly. It also gave

me a look into how much work goes

into managing a breeding farm.

Average day Most of my days consist of feeding,

grooming, and cleaning up after the

horses. However, I also get the

opportunity to check for injuries, and

treat for them. These treatments

include everything from cleaning

wounds, to administering oral

medicine, to giving intramuscular

vaccines. I also am able to observe

vets when they came out to check on

Calvin’s injuries, and ask as many

questions as I like. While most of the

day is manual labor, it is necessary, yet

still fun in its own way.

Pedigrees Daylight Lassie (Cassie): sired by

Seeking Daylight to Cashel Lassie. She

has produced 7 foals, five of whom

have raced. Her current foal (Lily) was

sired by Jump Start. She is unraced.

Liberty Bay (Liberty): sired by Bullsbay

to Signaling. She has produced one

foal. Her current, second foal (Willow)

was sired by Golden Lad. She is

unraced.

Old Grey Square (Adara): sired by

Wekiva Springs to N Square. She has

produced one foal. She is currently in

foal to Mosler. She was unplaced at 2,

and once placed 3rd at 3, winning

over $10,000.

Why I chose this as my project Horses have always been my passion.

From a young age, I’ve ridden and

worked around horses, and I realized

that I would want to do something

with them as a career. I chose this

project as a way to gain more varied

experience with horses, especially

young ones. For most of my horse

experience, I’ve dealt with older,

trained horses, so I hoped this would

allow me to continue to grow in my

field. Young horses, since they don’t

have the same experiences as older

horses do, present unique challenges

in handling and training them.

Acknowledgements and

contact info Thank you to Dr. Burk and to Tim

Shellem for giving me this opportunity.

You can reach them at

amyburk@umd.edu and

tshellem@umd.edu

Cassie, Lily, and me. Photo credit: Katie Tillis

Belle exercising in a round pen. Photo credit: Batsheva Marks

Hannah on a snowy day. Photo

credit: Batsheva Marks

Adara standing in the sun. Photo

credit: Batsheva Marks