Family Fun at Ag Field Day!

We all know that spring brings warmer weather, greener grass, and sunny days...but the best gift of spring is the foals! Here at the Rutgers Equine Science Center, we have one of our very own! Foals are so cute with their fluffy tails and wobbly legs, and are much more developed than newborn humans. The horse is a precocial species, meaning that newborn foals are neurologically mature after birth. This is because horses are prey animals in the wild and are most vulnerable immediately after birth, so they must be able to identify danger and flee if necessary. In fact, a foal will usually stand within an hour of being born (after a few failed attempts of course!). Can you imagine a human baby being able to stand an hour after being born?!

The new Rutgers foal's name is RU Skylark and belongs to one of the mustangs in the Young Horse Teaching and Research Program named RU ShyAnne. Both mother and baby will be on display (along with the other mustangs in the program) at Ag Field Day at Rutgers Day on April 30th at the Red Barn on the G. H. Cook Campus in New Brunswick. If you really fall in love, some of the mustangs will be available for bid at an auction held on Sunday, May 1st at the same location. If buying a real horse is out of the question, stop by the Equine Science Center's stand and get yourself the next best thing...a Lord Nelson beanie baby! They're just as much fun, they'll fit in your car on the ride home, and the best part is you'll never have to clean up after them! I look forward to meeting all of you, my loyal followers, on Saturday!

Your pal,
Lord Nelson

"April Showers bring May Flowers..."

You've heard the phrase "April showers bring May flowers", but rain also brings lush green pastures that horses love! And now is the time for a delicious salad made from dandelions. As the spring season goes on, it makes me happy to see new sprouts of grass grow out of the dirt that dominated the pasture in the winter months. Don't get me wrong; I love hay, but there's nothing like grabbing a huge mouthful of fresh grass from the ground as the sun shines down and a warm breeze makes my tail float in the wind...it's almost enough to make me forget that the rider on my back is trying to get my head up!

Egg-Shaped Third Eye???

Hay Friends,

Remember in my last blog post I promised to share with you the location of a horse's third eye? Well, it's right in front of the ears, hidden underneath the forelock, but you can't see it! Just kidding! Horses don't actually have a REAL third eye - that would be bizarre! They do however have something called a pineal gland in their brain that processes information about the environment, like exposure to daylight, similarly to the actual eye. The pineal is a small reddish brown egg-shaped gland located in the center of the brain tucked between the two hemispheres.

Through a series of chemical reactions, the amount of light, processed through the eye's retina, is sent through various parts of the brain and ultimately received by the pineal gland. The primary functions of the pineal gland are to synthesize and secrete the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is a powerful hormone that plays an important role in adjusting the body to photoperiod and affecting circadian rhythms, such as the sleep-wake cycle, as it processes light exposure. The release of the hormone is not constant however; it is a pattern of the lowest concentrations occurring during daylight hours and peaking at night when it's dark. The varying levels of melatonin tell a horse what season it is and whether or not it should shed its hair or for mares to begin reproductive function. Pretty cool, huh?

Spring IS in the air and my pasture is beginning to sprout new luscious grass. Better for me than hot dogs and peppermints! Did you know that there are different species of grasses grown in horse pastures? Look out for my next blog post, where I'll talk about the different varieties of my most favorite food!

Until next time,

Lord Nelson