Planning begins for Northern's equine facility

College students may drive horse trailers to class in coming years, if all goes according to Montana State-University Northern’s plan for a new equine studies minor.

By next year, students may be riding horses at a new equine facility off-campus. A group met Wednesday in the Hill County Courthouse to discuss construction plans.

The group has found a potential site, Commissioner Mark Peterson said, but it depends on clearing logistical “speed bumps.”

Even so, Peterson added, “I think we can make this work.”

The economic impact for Havre is great, Northern’s rodeo coach Doug Kallenberger said.

He told the group that University of Montana-Western’s equine studies program has grown to more than 100 students.

“When these kids pull into town, they’ve got a trailer, a pickup, a horse,” Kallenberger said, adding that these translate into spending on axle repairs and tire repairs and more customers at North 40 Outfitters.

The trailers and horses alone are in the $10,000 to $30,000 range, and pickups are in the $40,000 to $70,000 range, Peterson said after the meeting.

The long-term benefits to the economy and society should not be underestimated either, he said.

“Kids are not just riding in rodeos, they’re going back to their communities and starting ranches, starting farms,” Peterson said, and added that horses help to keep kids out of trouble.

Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel said other universities that developed equine programs saw a jump in enrollment and higher student retention rates. Kegel told the group that an equine program could involve Northern with a community that it might not have been getting before.

Despite the potentials for the equine studies minor, retired Hill County sanitarian-planner Clay Vincent said, the group must work out the logistics for the equine facility first, especially meeting with the zoning board and with a neighboring residential property.

The potential land for the equine facility was offered to Northern by a local landowner.

“When you get a donation like that right out of the gate, you step up and listen,” Kegel said.

Kallenberger has big dreams for the land, he said.

“I would love to see by this time next year,” Kallenberger said, “an outdoor facility, a round pen, an arena and horse stalls.”

Those are possible, cost-wise, he said, and added that within five years he wants to construct a building on the property.

The group agreed that a place for students to board their horses is critical.

Thirty to 35 steers would also be fed on the property from Sept. 1 through October or mid-November, Kallenberger said, with the potential for them to stay through May.

Housing animals comes with many logistical challenges, however, Peterson said.

In addition to the usual zoning, water supply, parking and sewage issues, he said, livestock brings concerns about flies, odor, noise, dust, waste management and contaminated stormwater.

These topics must be negotiated with the neighbors, who may not be used to living around animals or may have health problems, Vincent said.

“There’s not a person in this room that doesn’t wanna see this go, but we have to defend these people (in the residence). Have to make sure they’re not affected,” Vincent said.

“Very rarely does stuff happen by the time people want it to,” Amy Ferguson, sanitarian-planner of Hill County said after the meeting.

Vincent added, however, that the logistics could be approved in about six months if the group works with an engineer “and really gets after it.”

Kallenberger is eager to start the process, he said, even if it is gradual.

“We need to get out there and start using it,” he added. “When people can touch it and feel it and take a look at it, they believe you.”

Other ideas for the property include a riding trail encircling the property, an enclosed pavilion, and a therapeutic horseback program, he said, adding that Northern’s rodeo team is looking for ways to give back to the community and younger generations.

“Not everybody’s going to be paying,” he added.

The former therapeutic riding program in Havre ended because of the burden falling on only a few volunteers to trailer horses to the location, Diane McLean said, and added that the “new blood” provided by college students could help a therapy program to thrive.

The meeting closed with Vincent recommending that a couple of people meet with the potential location’s neighbors in the next two to three weeks.

“If you get some good vibes from them, you can put in some more money and more work,” he said.

Peterson also encouraged the group to move forward.

“Let’s get this thing done,” he said, “but let’s not take 10 years to do it.”

The next equine facility meeting will be held the first week of September.