Your future, our focus
POWELL, Wyo. - The former Heart Mountain Equestrian Center was purchased May 3 by Northwest College and will undergo some renovations this summer to become the NWC Rodeo Team’s permanent home.
The college paid $550,000 from its budget reserves to buy the center, located between Powell and Cody on Happy Trails Road.
The 17½-acre facility, which includes a 150-by-250-foot heated indoor arena, will be managed by NWC Rodeo Coach Del Nose.
“For the past 10 years, the center has worked well as a rented practice facility for the NWC Rodeo Team,” Nose said, “but now that the college has full ownership, we’ll be renovating it to better fit the needs of the team. We’ll be working on it most of the summer to make sure it’s a first-rate facility by the time school starts again in August.”
Nose said that along with replacing old and dated equipment, he’ll also be building 15 new stalls with 24-foot runs and storage areas so students can house their horses and stack their hay on site.
In the future, the facility may also be used to augment the college’s veterinary assistant program and for therapeutic handicapped riding.
“Depending on availability,” Nose said, “the arena may be open for limited events sometime in the future, but NWC students have first priority, and that will always be our focus.”
He said the facility will receive an official name later, but for now he’s calling it the NWC Rodeo Arena.