Bringing UC Davis to the Central Coast

Thanks to the generous donation of Templeton Farms by UC Davis alumna Gina Bornino Miller, the school’s Center for Equine Health (CEH) has expanded to serve central and southern California equine communities. Bornino Miller and her late husband William J. Miller (in photo above) opened Templeton Farms for business in 2011 as a sport horse training, sales, and breeding facility near Paso Robles. It has been home to generations of carefully and lovingly bred performance horses, as well as a thriving boarding program.

This unprecedented donation supports the CEH’s mission to advance the health, welfare, performance and veterinary care of horses through research, education and public service. As part of UC Davis, the facility will provide new opportunities to bring veterinary students, residents, researchers, and veterinarians together to tackle important problems affecting horse health.

“I am thrilled to donate Templeton Farms to my alma mater,” said Bornino Miller. “It was our dream to build a world-class facility, and I look forward to seeing it develop further to advance equine health and veterinary education for years to come.”

“We are incredibly grateful to Gina for this extraordinary donation that supports the future of equine veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Carrie Finno, CEH director. “Templeton Farms is a spectacular property with a reputation for excellence, and we are committed to providing top-quality care to boarders while enhancing our research and educational efforts to improve horse health and performance.”

Templeton Farms is now also home to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) California Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) Quarantine and Treatment Station, part of a federally mandated program regulating horses imported to the West Coast. The United States is free of CEM, a contagious venereal disease in horses that can have significant impacts on reproduction— making it a Foreign Animal Disease reportable at the state and federal levels. The CEH’s Davis location has collaborated with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to provide this important protection protocol for five decades.

“As the CDFA branch responsible for regulatory oversight of the USDA CEM import testing program in California, we have worked closely with the CEH for many years,” said Dr. Emily Nietrzeba, CDFA Animal Health Branch Equine Staff Veterinarian. “We are excited about the expansion to the new facility at Templeton Farms that centralizes access to this important animal health protocol and allows us to continue to protect the health and well-being of horses in California.”

Located approximately 200 miles from Los Angeles International Airport, the
U.S. West Coast port of entry for imported horses, the central California facility fulfills long-desired efforts to provide a more centralized location to better support equestrian communities statewide.

“The Paso Robles area, well known for its wine, is also becoming an emerging world- class equestrian destination for some of the top horse shows in California,” said Linda Starkman, owner of the Paso Robles Horse Park. “Having imported horses to the West Coast myself, I have been a supporter of efforts to centralize CEM quarantine services for the widespread benefit of the broad California equestrian community for many years. I am thrilled to welcome the CEH to the central coast and thank Gina for her vision in support of California’s horses.”

A long-time friend of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Starkman recently provided a generous gift in support of these exciting new efforts to enhance equine veterinary medicine and serve the California equine community.

Thanks to supporters such as Bornino Miller and Starkman, the future is bright for California’s horses and those who care for them.