Analysis of equine-specific undergraduate courses and competitive team opportunities across American colleges and universities

Abstract

Equine education plays a vital role in shaping the next generation of professionals in a thriving and dynamic industry. However, opportunities for undergraduates seeking equine-specific academic or athletic experiences may differ widely from institution to institution. This study analyzed the availability of equine-specific courses and competitive teams offered at colleges and universities across the United States. A dataset containing information on institution type, equine-specific course offerings, and equine competitive team opportunities was compiled from publicly available Internet resources, including the Equine Education Network, collegiate equestrian organizations, institution course catalogs, and the US Department of Education. Data were summarized via descriptive statistics and the number of equine-specific courses and team opportunities were compared across institution types using nonparametric tests. A total of 555 schools (220 public 4-year, 218 private 4-year, 116 public 2-year, and 1 private 2-year) were found to offer 3,113 equine-specific courses and 912 equine-related team opportunities. Among schools that offered equine-specific courses (n = 255, or 46.0%), the most common course categories were equine science and/or management (30.3% of all courses), riding and/or driving (21.6%), and training and/or instruction (15.5%). Four-year private institutions offered a greater median number of equestrian (i.e., riding, driving, and/or training) classes than 4-year public institutions (P = 0.04), with 2-year schools offering an intermediate median number of courses that was not significantly different from that of other institution types (P > 0.2). No differences were found between institution types in the median number of total (P = 0.40) or nonequestrian courses (e.g., equine science, management, business; P = 0.28) offered. Among schools that offered equine-specific team opportunities (n = 509, or 91.7%), the most prevalent intercollegiate teams offered were hunt and/or stock seat (77.6% of schools), followed by rodeo (26.3%), dressage (13.8%), polo (7.3%), eventing (5.5%), horse judging (5.5%), stock horse (5.3%), colt-starting (1.2%), and mule packing (1.0%) teams. As expected, there were regional variations in the availability of equine offerings, with the highest concentrations in states with greater equine populations. These findings contribute to a better understanding of equine educational resources nationwide and can be used to inform strategic planning for student recruitment, engagement, and workforce preparation.