CC breaks ground on equine center

An estimated 300 people were in attendance last Tuesday as Clarendon College officials broke ground on its new Livestock & Equine Center.

The new facility and its adjacent stalls and storage building will be the home of CC’s new equine science and equine judging programs as well as the college’s planned intermural rodeo team.

Recruitment for those new programs is on track, according to CC President Myles Shelton, and will help fill up the rooms in the school’s new 80-bed residence hall.

Construction on the equine center is about ten days behind schedule due to heavy rains, but Shelton said builders hope to begin pouring concrete this week. The target date for completion is mid-August.

The $1 million project has been on the college’s wish list for about 10 years, was included in the visioning goals in 1999, and was made a capital campaign priority in 2000. It is being funded entirely by donations.

With higher than expected construction estimates, the project was scaled back but will still serve its primary purposes this fall.

“We had to do what we could with the funds available,” Shelton said. “We can do more in the future.”

The 73,600-square-foot building on the west edge of the campus will feature a covered arena that will be closed on the west and north sides and open to the south and east. It will have skylights for daytime activities and electric lights for nighttime use.

“We can enclose it, add air-conditioning, include classrooms, and erect stands as funds become available,” Shelton said.

In the meantime, the equine science classes will be held in the college’s main academic building and in the Courson Ranch Operations Center.