LEXINGTON, Ky. — Students at one Fayette County high school received an unusual gift that will help in their studies.

Locust Trace Agri-Science Farm, a one-of-a-kind agriculture-based facility that includes equine studies as well as other agriculture programs, has a working veterinarian clinic, a separate livestock barn and was built as a net-zero energy building that will ultimately supply its own energy needs.

The gift was the construction of a real horse skeleton by Walter Varcoe, a farrier, a leading expert in equine anatomy and sculptor of sorts from Orange County, N.Y., who travels the country putting horse skeletons together for a variety of places. 

He built one for the World Equestrian Games in 2010 at the Kentucky Horse Park and another for its museum. He also builds and ships equine models to other countries.

Varcoe said the skeleton will be invaluable to the Locust Trace students, considering the school’s vet-medicine program and how important horses are to the area.

“Diagrams, pictures and computer-generated images don’t give it justice when you are talking to the veterinarian about your horse. When you really see a skeleton, and see it in 3-D, it brings those pieces together and it highlights a lot of the anatomy a lot of people weren’t aware of,” he said.

Varcoe, who donated his time to travel here, put the skeleton together while students watched and asked questions. “We’re kind of giving them an overall view; the bone count, the different types of bones, the similarities to human (skeletons),” he said.

In his career, Varcoe has probably constructed nearly 40 skeletons and many are for learning purposes, including for veterinary technicians.

“Equine education has come up to a different level now, where they want the vet techs to do so much more when they’re in practice, so they expect the education to be at a certain standard,” he said. “It’s not only good for them to start at this (high school) level, but even before this.”

Kris Little, a senior at the school, said she had never seen anything quite like the horse skeleton being put together, and while identifying animal bones is not foreign to her this was a different experience. “It’s not every day you get to look at a real horse skeleton, being able to feel the bones and see how the structure is made; it was actually a unique process,” she said. “There are places I never knew a horse had bones.

“In our environmental class we’ve actually identified bone structures and skulls from wildlife. When he put together this horse, it made me think we could have more opportunities and put together other bone structures here.”

Little also said seeing the event and being able to touch it is different than just looking at it in a book.

Camila Modica, a senior in the equine science class, said she has learned much about the anatomy of a horse in class. The skeleton gives a more visual view of what the horse is underneath and “how they’re put together.” She explained knowing what is underneath can help in treating equine ailments that might affect a horse.

The students at Locust Trace have the opportunity to learn about such ailments with the help of their animal science programs and the vet clinic. The administration has recognized the need to move students on to the next level of education after graduation.

It was a national contest entered by students that ultimately allowed the school to purchase the horse skeleton, with half of the $5,000 prize money the school won for placing second. The other half went into a scholarship fund created at the school to help students go to college.

Locust Trace Principal Joe Norman said that fund was always a plan for the school. “The more we’re able to help our students enter post-secondary education, especially with the cost today, it’s an added benefit for them to come here,” he said.

He said even though the school is in its first year of existence, students will benefit this year from the fund and that for many this gives them a chance they may not have had to gain scholarship money.

Dr. Jim Martin heads up the vet clinic at the school, treating animals while teaching students in many areas of their health and care. He said it was exciting to see Varcoe come to the school and create something that students would normally have to go to museum-like places to see.

mitting a grant application to enter the contest, vet-experts judging the grants picked Locust Trace as one of the top five applicants in the country, a testimonial to the school and the idea it represents.

“Basically, the company is taking their funds and finding worthy causes to put their money into to promote the profession,” he said. “If more people help promote the profession and more people help promote the student, we’d all be a lot better off.”