193 Equine teaching programs – where do they fit?

Abstract

Abstract Equine teaching programs in Animal Science Departments throughout the Midwest region land grant institutions have greatly expanded over the past 20 years. However, private schools with equine programs focused on large equitation programs have shown a reduction in recent years. Most indicated cost and reduced student numbers as factors to the decline. In evaluation of 12 land-grant institutions in the Midwest Animal Science region, 100% offer one or more equine Animal Science courses with a range of 1 to 16 different equine focused courses. Nearly all schools offer a combination of lecture and “hands-on” courses. Lecture courses focused on management, nutrition, evaluation, etc. were offed at all 12 institutions with most offering between 2 to 4 equine lecture type courses. Enrollments in these courses range between 10 – 50 students or more. However, highly popular hands on courses covering training, equitation, and handling have lower enrollment limits (10-15), lab fees, and schools offer between one to 6 different courses. Makeup of students enrolling in all courses is highly diverse from students with extensive prior horse skills and experience, to those with minimal experience. Furthermore, all of the institutions evaluated used the equine courses within their Animal Science major and three offered an Equine Option within Animal Science. However, this may be reflective of the structure of each Animal Science Department. Equine courses tend to be highly popular and attract students from various majors across intuitions. Offering courses to serve and attract this diverse student population is a challenge to departments, especially with the increased cost of maintaining herds for highly popular hands on courses. However, departments must strive to find a balance between lecture/distance and hands-on courses to provide students the educational experience exposing them to the equine industry and future careers.