8/20/2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - With their flowing manes, distinctive white color and fancy footwork, Andalusians stand out among breeds of horses.
Using a grant of $50,000 from the Irwin Foundation, Michigan State University has purchased three Andalusians, which will be used to pull the newly created Spartan chariot at MSU football games and other events.
The new chariot was truly an MSU team effort, with several campus units adding their expertise to the project. For example:
- Animal scientists from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources trained the horses.
- A team from the College of Engineering designed and built the chariot.
- Faculty and students from the College of Arts and Letters designed and made the costume the charioteer will wear.
- College of Veterinary Medicine procured the grant and assisted in the training.
The horses, known for their intelligence and calm demeanor, were purchased in Spain. They are named Go Green!, Go White! and Go Spartans!.
"These are very special horses," said Hilary Clayton, director of MSU's Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center. "They are beautiful animals, with their long manes and white color. They're also noted for their animated movements and friendly nature."
Since their arrival in East Lansing earlier this summer, the horses have been going through rigorous training, including runs through Spartan Stadium, complete with recorded crowd noises, and visits to MSU band camps that give the horses a chance to get used to the waving flags and band music.
"They've been handling things very nicely," said Brian Nielsen, a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science, who has been training the animals. "They are very well-behaved boys."
Nielsen, who also will serve as the charioteer, said when training horses for this particular task it's the mental aspect that's the hardest part.
"Conditioning is important, but even more important is getting them used to things like crowds and noise," he said. "We've been showing them a lot of sites on campus. The more we can expose them to, the better."
The chariot itself is a vehicle any Spartan would have been proud to drive. In addition to its fine wood finish, the chariot is equipped with spoked wheels, hydraulic brakes and a special torsion axle suspension system with no visible springs.
The work was done by a team of students in Professor Brian Thompson's mechanical engineering class.
"The students did a little research and then had to decide if this chariot should be a new, high-tech vehicle with composite materials or something more traditional," Thompson said. "We decided on an authentic chariot with just a bit of sophistication."
The costume that charioteer Nielsen will wear was designed and made by Valerie Webster, a former graduate student in the Department of Theatre.
"Valerie did a lot of research and came up with a uniform that was worn by foot soldiers around 500 B.C.," said Patricia Paulsell, associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters, who took part in the project. "It has leather armor, a toga 'skirt' and a long green cape."
The grant that helped purchase the horses came from the Irwin Foundation, a Detroit-based organization devoted to helping veterinary colleges and the students who attend them.
Named in honor of James and Clare Irwin, both of whom were educators in the city of Detroit, the foundation focuses on several areas, including student scholarships and veterinary technology. The foundation has funded a number of scholarships at MSU.