In July of 2013, Cal Poly welcomed home its newest member of the family: Moonstar, a mustang donated by a Cal Poly supporter.
Equine Supervisor Natalie Baker teaches an animal science class about equine management, where students learn about the care of horses. Those enrolled in the course help train Moonstar to become the university’s live mascot.
“The more hands-on experience that the horse gets, the better he will be in preparation for his début,” Baker said.
The anticipated début is expected to be Fall 2014 according to the Cal Poly Magazine.
“That’s the beauty of the learn-by-doing approach,” Baker said. “We can utilize this horse in our classes because we want students to be able to work with him and we want the horse to have more experience with the students.”
It’s a win-win situation, she said.
Moonstar is worked at least four days a week according to Baker. It may vary depending on her schedule. During the training, students clean his stall, groom him, saddle him and additionally, ride him in the arena or on the trails.
“We have different riders so he is comfortable with other people,” Baker said. “There is a lot students are doing in classes that help prepare and desensitize a horse for the events this year.”
Baker’s passion for Moonstar shows through her past history. Her love for horses has always been a family affair.
“I really got my love for working with horses from my mom,” Baker said.
When picking a college, Baker’s priority was to pick a school that had an intercollegiate equestrian team. She attended West Texas A&M University and continued to graduate school at Oklahoma State University. She continued on with her masters in animal science with an emphasis in equine.
“I was the assistant coach of the horse judging team and a T.A. for all the equine classes,” Baker said.
Anything that involved equine, Baker was there, eager to learn more about her passion.
“Horses are what I love,” Baker said. “But, what I wanted to do long-term was to teach and work with students.”
Combining her two interests, Baker decided on education and is happy with having the best of both worlds. Working with Moonstar is an added bonus.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see him come full circle to where we are using him in classes,” she said. “I really enjoy working with a mustang you can trust and who is a pleasure to be around. He makes this job even more fun.”
Moonstar’s well-behaved and friendly temperament allows him to work well with others Baker said. He is respectful of humans and their personal space.
“He is very sound-minded, quiet in his temperament and easy to be around.”
All in all, Moonstar does an excellent job representing Cal Poly’s program. He represents the fact that you can take a horse out of the wild and train them to be a not only to be a great companion and also, a riding horse Baker said.
“He brings back a lot of pride and really gets people to enjoy our program. He reignites student interest in having school spirit and working with horses.”