Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Horses are utilized in numerous higher education programs in United States. However, there is limited information on horse use, especially in university and college programs. Due to increasing enrollment, greater demand is placed on horse use while institutions are experiencing reduced funding and smaller herd numbers. Thus, this project was conducted to evaluate horse use and management in university and college programs. It was hypothesized that most equine programs over used their horses. A pilot study was conducted to validate the instrument used for the overall study. The survey instrument was created on SurveyMonkey® and released to equine programs (n = 9) in Kentucky for the pilot study in September 2016. After revision, it was released to equine programs in United States for the overall study in March 2017. A total of 19 responses were received from the overall study, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Based on the results, respondents had some similarities in how horses were used. For instance, most institutions used more than half of their horses in riding and teaching programs; lameness was the most apparent health issue; and most respondents used joint supplements. There were also some differences: pasture acreage varied; horses left programs for different reasons; and the number of students who came in contact with horses was different. However, with the low incidence of health issues and management practices in place, our conclusion was that horses in these programs were not overused.

Year manuscript completed

2017

Year degree awarded

2017

Author's Keywords

horse use, horse health, higher education, equine management

Dissertation Committee Chair

Shea Porr

Co-Director of Dissertation

Amanda Davis

Thesis Advisor

Shea Porr

Thesis Co-Advisor

Amanda Davis

Committee Chair

Shea Porr

Committee Member

Shea Porr

Committee Member

Amanda Davis

Committee Member

Alyx Shultz

Committee Member

Rebecca Splan

Document Type

Thesis

Additional Files
Student Work License Form - signed_HuiZhao.pdf (541 kB)
Student Work License Form
Thesis Signature Page for Hui Zhao - MS in Agriculture - signed.pdf (206 kB)
Signature Page
Download

Share

COinS