ADVS Employee of the Month

DJ Anderson has tirelessly served as the Manager of the Sam Skaggs Family Equine Education Center since 2014. In this role, he oversees the health, nutrition, housing, farrier, and wellbeing of all the horses in our facilities. The Equine Science and Management program has grown to nearly 100 horses across multiple age ranges and use categories during his time here. His horsemanship skills, strong work ethic, and problem-solving abilities have been a considerable asset to the USU ADVS Department.

DJ has been a vital part of the Equine Breeding Program, contributing many additional hours alongside his normal responsibilities to make the program a success. He is very involved with the ADVS Annual Futurity Sale, which the breeding program feeds into, managing the marketing and online portion of the sale, as well as many of the student efforts.

Aside from breeding season activities, DJ reliably sees to the daily needs of the horses, students, faculty, and staff year-round at the facility. This includes recognizing horses in need of veterinary care, daily feeding and watering, facility maintenance and scheduling, hosting events, and other day-to-day activities. He worked tirelessly to see the completion of the new stall barn before the 2019 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Western National Semi Final.

DJ takes care of many of the things we take for granted at the equine center, including snow removal, stall cleaning, landscaping, maintenance, heating, lighting, groundwork, and repairs. Rarely do we see problems because they are taken care of before we see them. He has been a dedicated Manager and a truly outstanding partner in providing care for USU’s horses. His skillset and ingenuity are an invaluable asset for USU’s ADVS Department.