Ways to Donate

As our program strives to become financially independent we count on support from our community and alumni. All donations are tax-deductible (we strongly suggest that you visit with your financial advisor on details regarding tax deductions). Your charitable contribution to the University of Missouri Equine Program will be used to support our teaching mission, enhance the quality of our facility and horses, and ultimately help us to train future professionals in the equine industry.

Supplies & Equipment

We appreciate donations of any useful tack, farm equipment, and supplies. All tack and equipment must be in relatively good condition.

Monetary

We also accept monetary donations. Gifts of all sizes are important to providing program and budget support. An unrestricted gift to be used for needs determined by the Equine Science program may be of the greatest benefit, but our program also appreciates gifts designated for specific purposes. These can be designated to fund various projects (i.e. horse care, teaching supplies, turnout sheds, fencing, etc). Our current needs include updating our facilities (both boarding barn & teaching facility), faculty support, and student scholarships.

Equine

We accept equine donations to provide students with hands-on opportunities to learn about proper handling and management of horses. Our horses play an integral part in the success of our program and we are very thankful to the many individuals who have donated their horses. Our equine donations fit into one of the following categories:

  • Broodmare & Stallion Donations.
    • Our program currently raises Quarter Horses, so any horses donated for breeding must be able to breed to Quarter Horses for registration purposes. All breeding stock must be registered and of high quality. While our recent donations have been comprised of primarily pleasure bred horses, we welcome any bloodlines or disciplines! We take very few stallions.
    • Horses in our breeding program are used to teach our students skills such as applying standing bandages, lounging and checking vitals (to name a few) so they need to have excellent ground manners. Due to market demands, emphasis for selection of breeding stock is placed on conformation and marketability of offspring (pedigree and performance record).
    • While our intention is not to sell these horses immediately, most of our breeding stock are either sold (if we feel we can find a good home for them through our auction) or adopted to an approved home (many times students who have made a connection with a particular animal) once they reach the end of their breeding career. If desired, the donor can request in their donation letter to have a first buy back option.
  • Donations for our Equine Behavior and Training & MU Online Horse Auction.
    • Any breed is welcome in our training class. Donations in this group are typically between 1-12 years of age. Once arriving at our facility, all horses will be examined within 7 days by a veterinarian for basic soundness before their donation will be completed. Horses must be sound for riding or work for 5 days a week. Because we match horses with new owners through our auction, we do not accept horses that will be difficult to place in a new home because of major physical or behavioral problems. In selecting donations, marketability is emphasized in younger horses while training is emphasized in older riding horses.
    • The ultimate goal of our auction is to place horses in long-term homes while providing income directly to the equine program. To achieve this mission, all horses are sold with complete medical records and detailed daily training journals of each horse’s training journey. We feel that this helps our buyers to become familiar with the horse they are bidding on and assists us with matching horses to suitable homes. While bidding occurs on-line, we do host a sale preview to allow potential buyers to personally inspect our sale horses and see them being worked by their student trainer. See more information on our Annual Online Horse Auction and Fundraiser. As a general rule we don’t start accepting horses for our Behavior & Training class until May.

Directions for Prospective Equine Donations

If you are interested in donating to our program, you will be asked to fill out a donation application so we can gain more information on your horse(s). We also ask for copies of registration papers (if applicable) and confirmational photographs. Videos are also required on horses located more than a two-hour drive from Columbia, Mo., and must show the horse walking, trotting, cantering, and turning both directions.

Questions about donations can be directed to Marci J. Crosby at 573-884-7836 or crosbym@missouri.edu.