Texas A&M Veterinary Students Earn $75,000 Coyote Rock Ranch Scholarships

Story by Megan Bennett, VMBS Marketing & Communications

January 7, 2025

Two fourth-year veterinary students at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have been selected as 2024 recipients of the $75,000 Coyote Rock Ranch Scholarship from the Foundation for the Horse. 

Future equine practitioners Fred Holcomb and Alexandra (Bettencourt) Wethington received their scholarships on Dec. 8 during the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ 70^th Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida.

The competitive scholarship, established in 2015, is presented each year to four students across the country who have demonstrated outstanding performance during veterinary school. This is only the second time in the award’s history that it was given to two students from the same university.

Fred Holcomb

Originally from Virginia, Holcomb took a nontraditional path to veterinary school. He completed his undergraduate degree at Davidson College in North Carolina and then spent several years working as a farrier and training colts before making the switch to veterinary medicine.

“As early as I understood what a job meant, I always wanted to work with horses,” Holcomb said. “Horse training was my initial interest, and then it became the biomechanics of shoeing that really interested me. Vet school made sense as the next step in my work since I loved the idea of getting into the details of equine biomechanics.”

While living and working in Washington, Holcomb chose Texas A&M for veterinary school following the advice of his mentors, veterinarian Dr. Tara Black and horse trainer and farrier Pat Pare. He moved to College Station to finish taking prerequisite classes, also using that time to participate in local rodeos as a team roper.

As soon as he began classes at the VMBS, Holcomb started dedicating much of his free time to the Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (SCAAEP). Through the SCAAEP, he also developed close mentorship relationships with the club’s advisers, Dr. Leslie Easterwood and Dr. Dustin Major, who also served as Holcomb’s personal faculty adviser.

“I came to school to take the next step in my work with horses, so I wanted to pursue horses to the fullest,” he said. “That meant getting as involved as possible with the club. I was our class representative in my first year, and then I was chapter president for second and third years. We had a really strong group of officers and the club doubled in membership after we took over.”

Following graduation, Holcomb will be heading to Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in California for an equine internship, after which he plans to pursue an equine surgery residency.

“Horses are fascinating creatures; I really love thinking about the physics of their movement,” Holcomb said. “I love the hands-on nature of surgery, the ability to visualize and think about the forces experienced. It feels, in some ways, like an extension of the things I enjoyed about shoeing horses — thinking about where the horse lands and loads, using your hands, and making an immediate difference.

“Being an equine surgeon is very much my big-picture goal,” he said. “My plan is to work at a private practice for a number of years, because I think the volume of patients seen at a private practice is very important for my training early on. Then, I’ll just see where it takes me.”

Holcomb is proud to represent Texas A&M as a recipient of the Coyote Rock Ranch Scholarship.

“I’m so grateful to be a part of a really strong Class of 2025 equine group,” he said. “I’m super grateful and very humbled to receive this scholarship, and I’m very proud to represent my class and our school.”

Alexandra Wethington

Wethington grew up in Massachusetts, where she developed a passion for both veterinary medicine and horses at an early age. 

“My parents owned a dog boarding kennel, so I was constantly surrounded by animals growing up. I was 3 or 4 when I knew I wanted to be a vet and was also pretty young when I turned to horses,” Wethington said. “I started riding hunter jumpers when I was 6 and never turned back.”

While earning a dual bachelor’s degree in pathobiology and animal science at the University of Connecticut, Wethington developed a strong interest in pathology. That interest, combined with her love for horses, led Wethington to pursue a career in equine internal medicine.

Wethington’s career goals were further solidified after she completed the Veterinary Medical Scientist Research Training Program during the summer after her first year. 

“I worked with Dr. Noah Cohen and Dr. Rebecca Legere in the Equine Infectious Disease Laboratory, which really spurred my interest in foals,” Wethington said. “Foals are exposed to a bacterium called Rhodococcus equi on a lot of large farms, and despite a lot of promising research, we still do not have an effective commercial vaccine. 

“Instead of vaccination, veterinarians can transfuse foals with one to two liters of hyperimmune plasma shortly after birth,” she said. “Our research centralized on identifying the most protective antibodies and increasing concentrations of those protective antibodies in the hyperimmune plasma in order to better protect foals from developing rhodococcal pneumonia.”

Their work was published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research in 2024.

During her time at the VMBS, Wethington also participated in the SCAAEP, the student chapter of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, and the student chapter of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine; served as president of the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative; and was a student ambassador for the VMBS. Wethington also presented research findings and equine pathology cases at several veterinary conferences throughout the country, including the Davis Thompson Foundation Divisional Meeting and the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium.

After graduation in May, she will be heading to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky for an equine hospital internship, after which she hopes to complete a large animal internal medicine residency and a Ph.D. in neonatal research.

“I want to be an academic clinician, like my mentors, Dr. Cohen, Dr. Legere, and Dr. Amanda Trimble” Wethington said. “I love teaching and mentoring, I love the research, and I love the clinical medicine. I feel very passionate about advancing the future of equine veterinary medicine. I don’t think there’s a better position that exists for me.”

As she prepares for the next chapter in her education, Wethington is especially appreciative of the financial relief that the Coyote Rock Ranch Scholarship will provide.

“I will be the first doctor in my family. My parents and loved ones were so supportive of this dream, but I did not have a college fund,” she said. “Receiving this scholarship is absolutely life changing. It means that I get to pursue everything I want to do in my life, especially helping horses and future veterinarians, with far less worry about my future financially.”

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For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216

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