192 Meeting Industry Needs and Changing Dynamics of Equine Students

Abstract

Abstract Over the past twenty years, the “typical” equine student has drastically changed. Today’s equine and agriculture students now come from a more urban, rather than rural background, which presents a challenge to the traditional equine programs where research and horse husbandry were the norm. Equine programs at colleges and universities have had to change in order to accommodate these non-traditional students; however, industry needs, especially as it relates to the horse as a production animal have not changed. The challenge therefore is to bring together what the industry needs with the available talent “the students” and what colleges and universities can offer with ever increasing limited budgets. Using data from twenty years of applicants (>1000) to the Kentucky Equine Management Internship program, we compared today’s equine student to those of five, ten and twenty years ago to demonstrate the changing dynamics and evolution of today’s equine undergraduate student. We also examined transcripts of these equine interns to assess what courses the students are actually taking. The needs of the modern equine production farm were also analyzed in so that recommendations can be made as to the sustainability of equine programs to meet the needs of the equine industry going forward.