Equine Science Research Articles

PSIV-9 Pedigree tracing to determine the origin of the golden coat phenotype within the Golden American Saddlebred horse

Abstract With the incorporation of the Golden American Saddlebred Horse Association (GASHA) into the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA), breeding specifically for coat color within the breed registry became less of an emphasis for horse breeders. Nevertheless, historical documentation of the horses making up the foundation of the GASHA through the application of pedigree tracing holds value in understanding the origin of the breed and its coat color. This can be of value to horse breeders targeting a specific coat color as the study of coat colors is a relatively new field of research within equine science. Thus, the objective of this study was to document the historical origins of the GASHA through pedigree tracing to determine the influence of the dilution genes that produce the golden coat phenotype. A random sample of 550 horses was obtained from the Official Directory of GASHA. Using the All-Breed Data Base, sampled horses were entered and examined for pedigrees suitable for analysis of color inheritance, and of these, 507 were found to have extended pedigrees with documented coat colors that were used for this study. Results determined that 43% of traced pedigrees carried the champagne gene, 36.1% carried the cream gene, and 20% had pedigrees that were non-informative as these pedigrees went to unknown ancestors or were found to be incorrect as to ancestry. Another 0.9% were determined to be obligate carriers for the cream gene; as the pedigrees presented conflict concerning color designation so that accurate conclusion of coat color phenotype associated with the cream dilution gene could not be verified. Of the 507, all traced back to 6 foundation mares and most of the breed traced back to 2 of these mares; with one mare, Maud, being a champagne mutation and the other, Allens Queen, a cream mutation (Table 1). In conclusion, through pedigree tracing the GASHA origins were documented giving an understanding as to the genetic contributions for today’s GASHA golden coat color. Further, these results will give breeders more input on how they might select for certain coat color phenotypes.

2022 Equine community needs assessment survey

To stay up-to-date with the demographics, interests, and needs of the equine community, equine extension programs commonly conduct so called “needs assessment surveys”. The main goals of the 2022 Rutgers Equine Science Center (ESC) needs assessment survey were to: 1) characterize the equine community, 2) identify information sources used by the equine community, 3) assess the usefulness of selected equine-related services and programs, and 4) determine the perceived importance of selected equine-related issues. An anonymous online survey was distributed through the Rutgers ESC's email list, a press release, and social media. Analysis-eligible surveys were received from n = 493. Most participants were female (92.7 %), 36-60 years of age (48.4 %), white (88.8 %), and horse owners (87.8 %). The top three sources of equine-related information used were 1) personal knowledge (95.7 %), 2) the veterinarian (93.7 %), and 3) the farrier (83.7 %). The survey showed that the provision of horse health information is the most useful service that the Rutgers ESC specifically can provide (79.3 %). This service may also be most useful for other extension programs, but a follow-up study is needed for clarification. The five equine-related issues most often considered to be extremely important were “Lameness and Soundness” (76.5 %), “Ethical Use of Horses” (73.2 %), “Nutrition” (63.9 %), “Right to Farm” (56.8 %), and “Care of Old Horses” (55.6 %). The survey provided insights into the current demographics of the equine community, highlighted personal knowledge, veterinarians and farriers as important information sources, and elucidated “Lameness and Soundness” as the most important equine-related issue.

299 Building and maintaining an engaged undergraduate equine research team

Abstract An objective of the equine science program at Penn State is to provide the training and knowledge students need to solve problems in their lives and careers. The Equine Research Team at Penn State (PSERT) is a novel approach to meeting this objective, inspired by Dr. Max Kleiber’s “Tracer Team”, a group of faculty and graduate students that successfully studied kinetics of phosphorus and calcium metabolism in dairy cows at the University of California, Davis in the 1950s and 60s. The team allows us to address several objectives that are not easily approached using more traditional teaching environments found in the classroom or laboratory. These include 1) satisfying the demand for research experience from a large number of students, who come to research with an enormous range of ability and enthusiasm, 2) providing the hand on practice utilizing the scientific method to solve problems in the equine industry, 3) building a sense of personal responsibility and simultaneously cooperation by approaching research as a team, 4) creating an environment of academic and creative achievement outside the traditional grading system, and 5) blurring the lines that traditionally separate academic and social life at a university to create an environment much closer to what students will experience as graduates. In spring 2008, 10 undergraduate students sought formal research experience opportunities in the area of equine science. Students were organized into a team that met biweekly. Project leaders registered for independent study course credits and conducted 3 research studies in yr 1, while the rest of the team participated as volunteers. Fourteen years later, the team is still an important student organization with between 40 to 60 members on an annual basis. Over the years, the team has traveled to universities and important equine industry locations throughout the United States. Members have conceived, conducted, analyzed and presented research studies on a wide range of topics within the sphere of equine science. The team has two faculty advisors, an executive committee analogous to most student organizations, a group of research project leaders, and approximately 60 dues paying student members. The biweekly meeting is organized and led by the executive committee and generally contains the following components: update of activities, seminar provided by an outside speaker from industry or academia who has expertise in the area of equine research, presentation by one of the research project leaders, and group discussion of the project, planning of future research projects. This Equine Research Team has been and continues to be a model that can be utilized by others to successfully facilitate undergraduate student engagement in research.

Unveiling the population genetic structure of Iranian horses breeds by whole-genome resequencing analysis.

Preserving genetic diversity is pivotal for enhancing genetic improvement and facilitating adaptive responses to selection. This study focuses on identifying key genetic variants, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs), and copy number variants (CNVs), while exploring the genomic evolutionary connectedness among seven Iranian horses representing five indigenous breeds: Caspian, Turkemen, DareShuri, Kurdish, and Asil. Using whole-genome resequencing, we generated 2.7Gb of sequence data, with raw reads ranging from 1.2Gb for Caspian horses to 0.38Gb for Turkoman horses. Post-filtering, approximately 1.9Gb of reads remained, with ~ 1.5Gb successfully mapped to the horse reference genome (EquCab3.0), achieving mapping rates between 76.4% (Caspian) and 98.35% (Turkoman). We identified 2,909,816 SNPs in Caspian horses, constituting around 0.1% of the genome. Notably, 71% of these SNPs were situated in intergenic regions, while 8.5 and 6.8% were located upstream and downstream, respectively. A comparative analysis of SNPs between Iranian and non-Iranian horse breeds showed that Caspian horses had the lowest number of shared SNPs with Turkoman horses. Instead, they showed a closer genetic relationship with DareShuri, Quarter, Arabian, Standardbred, and Asil breeds. Hierarchical clustering highlighted Caspian horses as a distinct cluster, underscoring their distinctive genomic signature. Caspian horses exhibit a unique genetic profile marked by an enrichment of private mutations in neurological genes, influencing sensory perception and awareness. This distinct genetic makeup shapes mating preferences and signifies a separate evolutionary trajectory. Additionally, significant non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in reproductive genes offer intervention opportunities for managing Caspian horses. These findings reveal the population genetic structure of Iranian horse breeds, contributing to the advancement of knowledge in areas such as conservation, performance traits, climate adaptation, reproduction, and resistance to diseases in equine science.

The role of an equine nutritionist in equine health, performance and wellbeing: Ideas stemming from an equine science society symposium workshop

In the United States, there is little clarity on the qualifications and availability of equine nutritionists. Currently, no regulatory body exists for formal credentialing outside of veterinary medicine. Most equine nutritionists are not veterinarians but do have advanced scientific degrees (Master of Science and/or Doctor of Philosophy) in the field of Animal Science. However, not all reporting to be equine nutritionists have formal education in the field of equine nutrition. To discuss this, a workshop was held at the 2023 Equine Science Society (ESS) meeting. The purpose of this discussion was to share ideas among equine nutrition professionals about how best to provide support for the inclusion of the specialty as part of a horse's health team, alongside the veterinarian, farrier and other equine health specialists. In human, small animal and livestock practices, the importance of nutrition as part of an overall health, production (livestock) and well-being plan has been documented. However, surveys of veterinarians, the top source of information for horse owners, reveal a lack of confidence in the area of nutrition after graduating from veterinary school and a lack of available continuing education opportunities to learn more. Further, it appears that many horse owners may unknowingly be obtaining nutrition information from unverified sources (such as the internet). The discussion included formal and informal education of equine nutritionists, as well as avenues to open lines of communication with the veterinary community to provide nutrition resources for horse owners, managers and veterinarians.

The Ethics of Using Dominance-Based Training Within the Equine Leisure Industry: Part 2

The second of a multi-part series examining the ethics of dominance-based training techniques like “Natural Horsemanship.” This part investigates the role of language and appeals to emotion that can cause problems in understanding equine science.

Students’ Perception of Online Equine Courses and How It Affects Their Learning

Courses that are typically hands-on, like equine science, may be more challenging online, but there is a higher demand for online offerings. With an increase in students taking online equine courses, a review of teaching methods was conducted to determine students' preferred teaching tools in online equine courses. The survey was sent out to students at approximately 10 universities that offer equine science courses online that had previously or were currently enrolled in an online equine-focused course and was completely voluntary. Of the 77 respondents, 71 (92%) were female, 6 (8%) males, and the majority (96%) white. The primary reasons students chose an online equine science course was because it fit their schedule better (n = 8; 24.5%) and the course was only offered online (n = 36; 23.2%). Students found videos (n = 62; 92.5%) and readings (n = 57; 85.1%) were extremely or somewhat beneficial teaching methods. Half (n = 34; 50.8%) of the students felt they learned as much in their online courses as in a traditionally taught course. Additionally, students indicated they received a quality education in equine science courses whether taught online (n = 55; 82.1%) or in a traditional in-person (n = 49; 73.1%) format.

Preliminary evidence supporting the use of equine science podcasts to bridge the gap between scientists and horse enthusiasts to improve horse welfare

SummaryBackgroundPodcasts have become a popular digital forum for discussing scientific information with peers, as well as with the non‐scientific community, often referred to as ‘edutainment’. It is unclear how science‐based podcasts can support the veterinary industry through, for example, supporting good husbandry practices.ObjectivesTo understand the influence of ‘edutainment’ on equine owners' husbandry decisions.Study designThe sample population were listeners of the Conversations in Equine Science (CES) podcast recruited to complete an online survey via a link promoted by the CES hosts. The survey contained Likert‐like questions assessing how listeners rated the importance of different forms of evidence when making husbandry decisions and questions relating to husbandry changes made.MethodsA mixed methods approach was used to analyse the data. The Likert package for R was used to explore importance ratings. Free text questions were analysed via a content analysis with a constructionist epistemological position.ResultsThe experience of veterinarians and scientific evidence were considered the most important forms of evidence that owners used when making decisions about their horse's management (93% agreed and 91% agreed they were important respectively). Additionally, 74% of respondents had made a change to the management or training principles prompted by an episode of CES, suggesting edutainment can be a prompt to management change. Of these, the majority (55%) had done so based on a joint discussion of the podcast and their own reading of the evidence.Main limitationsThis was an opportunistic sample of those already invested in the edutainment format and may not represent those owners with no interest in scientific evidence.ConclusionsPodcasts are an easy‐access, low‐cost medium to convey research and current trends in the equine/equitation science genre. They may be a valuable tool for the veterinary industry to employ to support horse welfare.

The state of coursework on horses in human services at universities and colleges in the United States: a scoping review

An increasing number of universities and colleges in the United States are offering coursework on adaptive/therapeutic riding and the incorporation of horses in human service areas such as psychotherapy, education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology. The first study to identify coursework in these areas was published in 2018. In order to track development over time, we conducted a replication study to determine the prevalence of coursework on horses in human services at higher education institutions. Information gathered for the 2021–2022 academic year included the institution name, geographic location, number of courses and their focus, academic department offering the course, and level of study. We identified 122 courses provided by 48 higher education institutions in 29 states in the following areas: adaptive/therapeutic riding (N = 82, 67.2%), mental health (N = 19, 15.6%), education/learning (N = 2, 1.6%), and equine movement in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology (hippotherapy) (N = 1, 0.8%). Survey or overview courses (N = 18, 14.8%) were also identified. These courses were offered both at the undergraduate (N = 114, 93.4%) and the graduate level (N = 8, 6.6%) by a total of 48 departments that either focused on animals, such as equine science, animal science, and agriculture (N = 27, 54%) or focused on humans, such as health science or liberal arts (N = 23, 46%). The results inform a discussion on changes over time as well as current challenges and opportunities for academic programs offering coursework about horses in human services.

Does Equine Interaction Facilitate Emotional Safety and Learning for College Students within an Agricultural-Based Classroom?

Effective teaching requires an educational environment that promotes learning, and yet, developing such an environment can be challenging within today's agricultural-based classroom for educators due to the trend to a more virtual teaching format and less hands-on learning. Animal interaction, particularly equine activities, has been shown to assist educators in the development of an emotionally safe environment for promoting learning. However, research is lacking as to whether the interaction with the animal needs to be direct or indirect within the collegiate educational environment to observe benefits. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the impact of equine interaction, both direct and indirect, within an educational environment on the emotional safety and learning for the college student within the agricultural-based classroom. Three course types were observed within the agricultural-based educational environment that included courses with no equine interaction (Group A) and courses with equine interaction, both direct (Group B) and indirect (Group C) interaction with the horse. Indirect interaction included items such as observation of equine handling via a video or gaining knowledge from reading online materials, but not engaging in direct, hands-on activities with the horse. Development of emotional safety within the students enrolled within these courses was measured using a self-reporting emotional safety evaluation. Due to the structure of the scale, a decrease in emotional safety indicated a positive change. Learning, both development of semantic and procedural memory, was measured using a student-completed knowledge examination and an instructor-completed skill evaluation, respectively. While significant improvement in emotional safety was not observed within any of the course types, a weak negative correlation was found between emotional safety and semantic memory for students enrolled in equine courses, both direct (R = -0.55, R2 = 0.28) and indirect (R = -0.25, R2 = 0.06) interaction, finding as emotional safety scores lowered to the ideal range that knowledge improved. In addition, students within equine courses showed semantic memory development in specific areas of equine sciences (Group B: Grooming/Tacking, p = 0.03; Group C: Equine Behavior, p = 0.04) and direct equine interaction resulted in development of equine-based procedural memory in all four skill areas measured within the study (p = 0.00). As such, learning is promoted through equine interaction, whether direct or indirect interaction, within the agricultural-based classroom, suggesting that both forms of equine interaction can be a valuable educational tool for the instructor within the collegiate setting.

Instructor Perceptions of Teaching in Undergraduate Equine Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March, 2020, campus restrictions associated with COVID-19 necessitated significant changes to undergraduate instruction at institutions of higher education. Rapid, unplanned transitions to remote learning caused disruptions for all educators, especially those who traditionally facilitate student learning via wet labs or live animal interactions, as is common within equine science and management courses. This study sought to identify teaching challenges and strategies associated with pandemic-era instruction among educators in equine science and management. Instructors who taught undergraduate equine science or management courses in the United States before and after the spring of 2020 (n=43 respondents) completed an online survey distributed during Spring 2021. Approximately two-thirds of educators of lecture-based courses, and approximately 40% of educators of laboratory-based courses incorporated an online element into their teaching as a result of COVID-19. Content delivery and assessments were altered to accommodate remote learning, although participants noted lower student engagement and participation. Respondents were generally satisfied with their institutions’ ability to provide resources to meet the challenges of teaching during COVID-19 but indicated challenges related to work-life balance and working from home. Results from this study can be used to develop resources to improve instruction during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Past, Present, and Future of Equine Science.

A core group of 27 equine nutritionists and physiologists joined together in the late 1960s to formally address and enhance the direction of equine research, creating the Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society. In 2003, that growing society transformed into the Equine Science Society, which now serves as the preeminent, internationally recognized scientific equine organization. In recent years, it has been appreciated that equine science encompasses a wide range of focus areas, including exercise science, nutrition, genetics, reproductive physiology, teaching and extension, production and management, and mix of other specialties, qualified as biosciences. Additionally, trainees are highly valued in the society, with the clear understanding that young people are the future of equine science. Amongst tightening budgets, equine researchers must focus on timely dissemination of high-quality research studies and development of strong, interdisciplinary, cross-species, and multi-institutional collaborations to ensure sustainability of academic research programs. With a little creativity, equine science will continue to thrive for the betterment of the horse and all involved in the equine industry.

176 Employment in the equine industry: Insights into job types, salaries, and education

The equine industry is host to an abundance of employment opportunities and in the US economy alone, the American Horse Council reports economic impact of $50 billion and close to 1 million jobs. Despite this, limited information is available on education and current salaries of equine professionals. In the summer of 2022, an online survey was conducted in collaboration with the Equine Science Society Membership Committee to assess current salaries, compensations, education levels, and job satisfaction of careers in the equine industry. A web-based survey consisting of 38 questions with conditional branching was created and distributed through social media and e-newsletters. A completion rate of 79% was observed with the majority of responses (n = 396) from North American (96%) females (84%). Survey branching focused on grouping participants by career type into the following categories: farm management, government, industry, nonprofit, private practice, and university. The most prevalent career type represented was farm management (34%) followed by private practice (18%), university (17%), industry (15%), nonprofit (12%), and government (4%). Associations between variables was examined with Chi-squared analysis. An association was observed between education level and salary (P = 0.001, X2 = 103.17) with salaries greater than$50,000 being more prevalent with advanced degrees. Similarly, job type and salary were associated (P = 0.001, X2 = 73.47), where salaries for university and industry careers were often greater than $50,000 and nonprofit and farm management salaries were more often less or equal to $50,000. For all career sectors, excluding government due to limited number of responses, there was a difference (P < 0.001) found when evaluating education, indicating that specific education levels are standard for each career sector. Data collected from this survey creates a baseline for evaluating compensation across the industry and exposed opportunities for improvements in future surveys. First would be the inclusion of more options for salary level brackets below $50,000; a majority (54%) of reported salaries were less than $50,000. Additionally, reorganization of job-type categories as there was potential participant confusion due to certain jobs overlapping into multiple categories. Outside of industry salary comparisons, survey data can be used by educators to emphasize the benefit of higher education in future employment success.

160 United States equine community: Information sources used and equine health-related issues considered most important

To provide the most useful resources, equine extension programs must stay up-to-date with the equine communities’ most pressing needs and interests. To obtain detailed information on topics that concern the equine community, and to learn more about its demographics, extension programs often conduct so called “needs assessment surveys.” The Rutgers Equine Science Center recently conducted such a survey with the objectives to: 1) determine what equine information sources are most used; 2) assess the degree of trust in these sources; and 3) identify which equine health and well-being related issues are considered most important by the equine community. The national survey was managed by the platform Qualtrics and was available online between October 10th, and November 1st, 2022. The survey was open to all individuals involved in the equine community (e.g., by riding horses, running a horse-related business, etc.). Responses were recorded anonymously, and survey questions were of single or multiple-choice type. Of 494 received surveys, 493 were eligible for analysis. Data were analyzed descriptively with frequency counts expressed as percentages. The 5 most frequently used sources of equine-related information were: 1) personal knowledge (95.7%); 2) veterinarian (93.7%); 3) farrier (83.7%); 4)horse-related websites (77.2%); 5) other horse owners (72.6%) (n = 492). Of these 5, veterinarians were most frequently considered a highly trusted source of information (64.2%), followed by personal knowledge (34.9%), farriers (32.7%), horse-related websites (2.4%), and other owners (1.3%) (n = 455). The top 5 equine-health and well-being related issues considered to be extremely important were: 1) lameness/soundness (76.9%); 2) nutrition (64.1%); 3) care of older horses (55.7%); 4) disease (49.5%); and 5) end of life decision (44.5%) (n = 485). In conclusion, veterinarians and personal knowledge appear to be the most frequently used sources of equine-related information, with veterinarians also being considered a highly trusted source by most respondents. Two of the top 5 health and well-being related issues pertained predominantly to elderly horses (i.e., care of older horses and end of life decisions), suggesting particular concern for this age group. As found in previous needs assessment surveys, lameness/soundness and nutrition were considered extremely important issues by most survey participants.

Wearable Inertial Sensor-Based Limb Lameness Detection and Pose Estimation for Horses

Accurate objective, automated limb lameness detection and pose estimation play an important role for animal well-being and precision livestock farming. We present a wearable sensor-based limb lameness detection and pose estimation for horse walk and trot locomotion. The gait event and lameness detection are first built on a recurrent neural network (RNN) with long short-term memory (LSTM) cells. Its outcomes are used in the limb pose estimation. A learned low-dimensional motion manifold is parameterized by a phase variable with a Gaussian process dynamic model. We compare the RNN-LSTM-based lameness detection method with a feature-based multi-layer classifier (MLC) and a multi-class classifier (MCC) that are built on support vector machine/K-nearest-neighbors and deep convolutional neural network methods, respectively. Experimental results show that using only accelerometer measurements, the RNN-LSTM-based approach achieves 95% lameness detection accuracy and also outperforms the feature-based MLC or MCC in terms of several assessment criteria. The pose estimation scheme can predict the 24 limb joint angles in the sagittal plane with average errors less than 5 and 10 degs under normal and induced lameness conditions, respectively. The presented work demonstrate the successful use of machine learning techniques for high performance lameness detection and pose estimation in equine science. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —Automation technologies are increasingly used for precision agriculture but few have focused on monitoring individual animals in open field for precision livestock farming. Limb lameness detection and pose estimation in open field is labor-intensive, unsafe for farmers, and inefficient. The presented machine learning-enabled, wearable inertial sensor-based design provides an effective and efficient approach for horse limb lameness detection and pose estimation applications. We present an RNN-LSTM for lameness detection and an integrated manifold learning model is used to predict the horse limb joint angles in walk and trot gaits under normal and induced lameness conditions. We also present a systematic analysis and experiments to demonstrate the impacts of the wearable sensor locations and signal information on lameness detection and pose estimation performance. Several other machine learning-based lameness detection methods are also presented and compared. The extensive multi-horse testing results are presented to demonstrate the superior accuracy and higher performance than other types of machine learning methods. One attractive feature of the proposed design lies in its high performance and fast computational capability for potential real-time applications in open field.

37 Enhancing Student Experiences Outside the Classroom: Industry Tour and Study Abroad Opportunities

Abstract Experiential learning has become a cornerstone in most educational systems. The concept continues to prosper as we see a greater population of animal and equine science undergraduate students coming from urban backgrounds with minimal hands-on animal experience. Experiential learning is accomplished through many pathways in our educational system including, but not limited to: laboratories, internships, field experience, study abroad, and research. Providing these learning options is integral to the success of our students as they enter the workforce. In the Department of Animal Sciences at North Dakota State University we strive to provide unique opportunities to enhance student learning. Study abroad and industry tours are exceptional approaches to expose students to professional opportunities, diversity within industries, international practices, and cultural differences. Although these experiences may or may not offer physical hands-on activities they provide life-changing opportunities for many students, allowing them to gain new perspectives and become more globally aware. Focusing on methods to provide the participants with a sense of ownership is key to immersion within the programs. Having an open dialect where student input is considered, and feedback is applied when forming an itinerary ensures the trips are relevant and diverse. Student understanding of the process from start to finish is imperative. Discussions of travel, culture, tour locations, and expectations prior to departure will help better prepare students for the once in a lifetime experience, they will have traveling on a study abroad or industry tour. While organizing study abroad and industry tour itineraries preparation is key to offering a successful and in-depth experience. Consideration should be placed on allowing students to reflect, analyze, and apply the information obtained. Combining the physical travel with the above three things will result in an impactful experience.

Characteristics and Motivational Factors of American Equine Journalists

The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic characteristics, career motivations, and professional development of American equine journalists. An online survey was distributed to equine journalists identified through their professional organizational membership. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Equine journalists were found to be predominately female, Caucasian, and averaged 53 years old. Nearly half were exposed to the equine industry prior to their career and have been working in the industry for over 15 years. Respondents were well educated and were most motivated towards their career as an equine journalist because of their interest in horses. Over 70% of equine journalists in this study participated in one to 10 professional developments in the last year, with social media management as the most frequently reported topic. Other frequently reported topics were marketing, journalistic writing, and magazine publication. Recommendations for practice include recruiting agricultural communications minor or certificate students from specialized programs such as animal science, equine science, equine studies, or livestock. Future research should consider the influence of pre-career experiences on equine journalist career motivations and skill development.

Transforming a Didactic Lecture into a Student-Centered Active Learning Exercise—Teaching Equine Diarrhea to Fourth-Year Veterinary Students

Problem-solving abilities, creative and critical thinking, communication skills, and teamwork are now recognized as fundamental determinants of professional success, especially in vocational professions, such as veterinary science. Tertiary education is now obliged to provide opportunities for students to become proficient in these qualities. With this in mind, the principal author, an equine science senior lecturer, attempted to increase student engagement by developing a new active learning, student-centered one-hour teaching episode on ‘equine diarrhea’, to replace the traditional didactic lecture format. The aim of the study, therefore, was to share the principal author’s journey in the development and implementation of this active learning episode and to explain why it represents a simple but effective method of promoting student engagement. In addition, the adaptation of this method into an online teaching and learning format is briefly discussed. The effectiveness of this active learning method is also explored by comparing it with the traditional didactic method of delivery. Students in the active learning class reported that the learning activity had enhanced their skills in clinical reasoning, problem-solving, and communication. They also described themselves as active participants in the learning process. Students in the traditional didactic class reported that they were satisfied with the time allocated to the lecture, felt that the lecture was well organized and managed, and subsequently felt adequately prepared to answer conventional examination questions relating to equine diarrhea. Other issues, such as student resistance to changes in teaching formats, the effectiveness of group work or teamwork, levels of student confidence within an active learning environment, and the importance of high-quality facilitation during active learning activities, are also discussed in this paper. Although the active learning method described is not novel, the authors hope that fellow educators, across any tertiary discipline, might find that the method described represents a quick and simple method of transforming a single didactic lecture into an enjoyable and engaging learning activity.

Undergraduate Certificate in Equine Science and Management

Iowa State University offers undergraduate certificates to demonstrate completion of a focused study in a specialized area. The certificate has the significant benefit of allowing students to customize their curriculum and document an approved course of study. An Equine Science and&amp;nbsp; Management Certificate is offered within the Animal Science Department at Iowa State University. The certificate requirements are organized to correspond with faculty and employer-defined needs for a successful transition from student to equine industry professional.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The Equine Science and&amp;nbsp; Management certificate will integrate technical topics in animal science with practical considerations in enterprise management. Two critical components to the certificate are the capstone Equine Systems Management course and a required internship in equine science and management. Students that complete the certificate will have the background to identify and address challenges in modern equine enterprises. Further, the certificate assists employers in identifying students that have shown the interest, discipline, and ability to complete this specialized study program.&amp;nbsp;

A Prototype of a Decision Support System for Equine Cardiovascular Diseases Diagnosis and Management

Proper diagnosis and management of equine cardiac diseases require a broad experience and a specialization in the field, but acquisition of specific knowledge is difficult, due, among other reasons, to the limited literature in this field. Therefore, we have designed, developed, and implemented (on a computer algebra system) a Decision Support System (DSS) for equine cardiovascular diseases diagnosis and management based on clinical practise. At this step it is appropriate for equine science teaching, but this work paves the way for a clinical decision support system that facilitated equine clinicians the management of horses with cardiac diseases, allowing improving health care in this species. The latter would require extensive testing prior to its use. The novelty of this work relies on the organization of the equine cardiology workflow in mathematical logic form, that allowed designing, develop and implement a DSS in this new field. An innovation of this work is the part of the DSS devoted to data completion (motivated by the possible lack of specialization of the users—the veterinarians).