Effects of the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course on 4-H Youth and the Perceived Impact on Equine Production Knowledge, Career Awareness and Professional Development

Texas 4-H youth were selected and participated in the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course. Twenty-four equine ambassador participants attended the 2015 Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course held at Lone Oak Ranch and Retreat. The equine ambassador participants served as the census population for the evaluation study. The five-day short course was an intense introduction to equine science principles delivered by university professors and staff, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension faculty and industry representatives. The purpose of the short course was to create advanced educational resources for a selected group of 4-H youth on advanced nutrition and feedings, importance of being an agricultural advocate, team building, hay selection and analysis, communication, agricultural issues, problem solving, hoof and shoeing, health of the horse, equine marketing, equine sales and an overview of agricultural career development. A group consisting of fifty-two Texas 4-H State Horse Show participants, comparable in age, education and experiences to that of the equine ambassador participants were selected to show equivalency to the study. The theoretical framework of this study surrounded the work of the experiential learning models. The equine ambassador participants experienced The National 4-H Experiential Learning Model during the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition was utilized to analyze the results of the level of equine expertise evaluated through the self-assessment instrument. The model describes how a learner transitions from a novice-to-expert within a learning environment. A pretest and posttest equine content knowledge exam evaluated the equine ambassador participants perceived impact of the program regarding their equine production knowledge gained following the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course. A pretest and posttest self-assessment instrument evaluated the equine ambassador participant’s level of equine expertise, perceived career awareness and professional development following the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course. The participants perceived the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course to increase their understanding of equine production knowledge, equine expertise, career awareness and professional development. The results of the study indicated that the Texas 4-H equine ambassador participants demonstrated a change in their equine production knowledge, equine expertise, career awareness and professional development following the Texas 4-H Equine Ambassador Short Course. The results of the study also indicated the need for continued support for advanced educational opportunities to develop youth 4-H members in the state of Texas. Future research should include replicating this study with a larger sample size, using technology following the program treatment to monitor animal advocacy, investigating the parents of equine ambassador perceptions of the program compared to that of the participants and lastly, to replicate in an alternate state