That is why I was hated (not directly) for years for refusing to pay for theater major… I am glad that DD now understands I did it out of love and very pragmatic approach. We cannot feed our kids forever, unless you provide them millions in inheretance or can guarantee well to do spouse…
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My youngest was always in love with animals: horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, even cows. I have allergies so I said no numerous times for all types of animals (we had fish, and briefly one rat that magically appeared in our guarage on snow day - it turned out it run from the neighbor…) So we paid for a lot of riding camps and DD was walking and “babysitting” numerous cats and dogs in our neighborhood (and made quite good money.) Now in college she happened (totally accidentally) to get FWS at animal shelter, and decided that equestrian team costs way too much. So “hiking” club would work for nature lover.
Another vote for considering the gap year experience as a working student or simply barn help.
If she does want to pursue this, the hands-on lessons she’ll get in horse-handling will be invaluable. Horses are big and strong, and it’s not that hard to get hurt around them (even without getting on!) It’d give her education more purpose and relevance.
Perhaps keep the idea tucked away as you look at programs. If she feels like most of the other students have that backgrounds, it might seem more attractive as well.
Really, anything that puts her into this world will open her eyes to the options available as well as the lifestyle.
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This is fascinating thread.
IHSA & Equus Foundation has great tips. I think your kid would get merit at Washington State, Oregon State, or use WUE.
I think merit at Auburn and Iowa State.
Check out remote internship open to high school students with natl trade group in McLean, VA. Google American Horse Council - they have
list of scholarships and youth training resources.
And the various industry directories.
Also horse industry trade groups by state.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see horses are still major business in Maryland/ horse racing roots, now therapeutic services and advocacy for public trails.
See tips here, maybe similar resources in other regions you’re targetting.
Also see social media for American Horse Council.
I can clarify one thing-- that American Horse Council Friday Fact is just counting up which states have returned the most number of completed surveys. The AHC is trying to assess the economic impact of the horse industry, and is in the middle of attempting to survey horse professionals. This is just telling us who has returned those surveys, not which states have the most equine activity.
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I do not know much about Equine/Equestrian Majors. If it were my child, I probably would insist on pairing it with some Business and/or Education majors. We have a lot of Barnes in MD and I believe many focus on kids’ education including working with kids with disabilities.
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Equine assisted therapy is huge right now if she is interested in either special education or counseling. The program is, at least for the positions in equine therapy for children with special needs, they really don’t pay much, if anything at all. Many are volunteer positions.
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I do not know about paying either. However, this is where business skill can help. In big cities maybe funded contracts with local goverments, cities or social services to provide programs for kids with special needs.
Just found this fb page. Note: none of the jobs posted, and none of the job seekers, mention an equine studies degree. (That’s because the degree is pretty much irrelevant to the industry, which is what I keep saying). Also note the working student position: it’s 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, except some days are longer. That is fairly standard in the horse world.
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And I keep agreeing with you! 
I will add that I took a working student position when I graduated from college. I was lucky at the time to find a position that offered housing, board for my horse, lessons every day, often additional horses to ride, transportation to competitions, full access to a small car for transportation, and paid me $100 a week. In exchange I worked dawn to dusk, sometimes well into the night. With that $100 I had to cover my personal expenses: food, clothing, health insurance (I was able to secure a high-deductible plan), competition entry fees, vet and farrier expenses for my horse, and gas for that car. Eventually I took a job at a local tack store on my days off because the $100 wasn’t enough to cover it all.
I went into this position with my eyes wide open. I already had plenty of experience in the industry to know the realities. Was it worth it? Absolutely! I learned so much during that time and would not change a thing! I also worked my a** off seven days a week for barely enough money to cover my expenses. There were times I couldn’t compete because I didn’t have the money to pay the entry fees.
By the way, the trainer I took this working student position with had other applicants for the spot who were equine studies program graduates. She took me over them because my previous experience as a barn worker showed that I knew what a grind this type of work is. Again, no need for an equine studies degree. Real life experience is often preferable to a degree when horse people are looking to hire.
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While they are well known for their equine majors, Centenary has been trying to dig out of its financial problems for some time now.
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Don’t forget to update us on where she ended up applying and where she decides to go. I enjoyed following this thread.
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Here’s the update….
D24’s been working at a small animal vet clinic since Sept and got her Vet Assistant certification. So she’s become pretty focused on equine science with an eye on vet school. But she is well aware of how hard equine vets have to work for very little pay so she’s keeping an open mind on long term career plans.
She and I visited Delaware Valley University in October. They are well known for their equine and ag programs. They have a 52 horse barn right on campus with an equine breeding barn across the road. If she makes the equestrian team, which is considered a varsity sport there, all of her competition expenses will be covered. They also do a semester exchange program with Hartpury University in Great Britain which she was considering as an option at one time. When we toured, there was another kid touring who was interested in animal science with an eye towards large animal vet. He was asking lots of questions of a senior who was applying to vet school and my D24 learned a lot about the vet school application process! DelVal seems to have a pretty good success rate with graduates getting into vet school. It’s a little bit smaller school than she thought she wanted (about 1800 students) but that seems to translate to lots of hands on opportunities.
The next day we visited Univ of Vermont. I had high hopes as I thought the size would be about right for her and I had heard good things about their CREAM program. We got there in the afternoon the day before the official tour and we met with the animal science department. D24’s first question was about how much hands on opportunities would she get with the horses. The staff person excitedly answered, “Lots! We have 6 horses on campus that you can start working with your sophomore year!”. Well, we might as well have packed it up and turned around right then! D24 was not the least bit interested from that point on! The barn wasn’t too far from campus, but the equestrian team practiced at a private barn much further away so she’d have to find rides to that barn and find a barn where she could take lessons.
In early Dec, my husband took her to Colorado State and Univ of Kentucky. They were also able to visit the vet hospital at CSU. Since I wasn’t along, I don’t know too much what her impressions were, but I do know it opened her eyes to other things she could do with an equine science degree besides vet school. At CSU, they said 80% of the equine science majors start with an interest in pre-vet, but only 20% continue onto vet school (but finish the equine science degree). At UK, (which does not have a vet school), they do a lot of research—the majority of equine vaccinations were developed there. D24 found that very interesting. Again, at both these schools, the equine barns were not “on” campus and finding a barn to take lessons would be challenging.
Costs: DeVal is a private university but very generous with their merit aid. D24 was offered $27.5k annually. CSU gave her the highest amount of automatic merit aid ($12.5k) annually (which is only slightly above what she would have gotten for WUE. UK only recently told her her merit award but I estimated even if it was the highest amount of automatic aid, UK would still be more than DelVal. They all came in pretty close but considering tuition and fees, plus room & board, DelVal looks to be about $32k, UK and CSU are about $36k (depends on what dorm you live in).
And the winner is……DelVal! I think she made up her mind long before she told us. I think she was worried we wanted her to go to one of the bigger schools. They all offered something very different but I think had she not chosen DelVal she’d always be wondering what she was missing. And I told her it seems a lot easier to transfer into a big school if she decided DelVal was too small than it would be to transfer into DelVal if she decided the state schools were too big. She’s a smart, resourceful kid and I believe this is the right school for her now.
If you’re interested….as part of equine breeding program they have “foal cams” up in the spring where they live stream the pregnant mares. Visit pennhorseracing.com. A foal was just born at the other farm that has foal cams!
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Thanks for a very informative write up.
Often, ideas change - and it sounds like it did here - and if they come through like they did on visit day, it seems a wonderfully impactful program.
If the majors listed on niche are right - it seems they have a lot of related that are popular - with animal sciences as the biggest and wildlife management too. So it might be the perfect school for your student’s interests.
Having everything so close saves the challenge of every day transportation.
You may be the only student from Alaska ever to find that college 
That’s a great get!!
I hoe it works out well and congrats on coming to a conclusion so early in the calendar.
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Congratulations! I like the way your daughter is thinking!
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Thanks so much for the update, @alaskajo! I loved reading about your daughter’s impressions and the thought processes behind her decision. Wishing her the best of luck in her time at DelVal!
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