Abstracts / Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 33 (2013) 321-399 383

schools for which they have previous familiarity. Thispossibility is supported by a recent NAEAA [5] study thatfound that equine students aremore likely to visit and applyto fewer schools than the national average despite the factthat they aremore likely than the national average to enrollin colleges a farther distance from their permanent home.

References

[1] Peterson’s Search http://www.petersons.com/college-search.aspx[2] College Board https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search[3] National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/

collegenavigator/[4] IPEDS http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/[5] NAEAA http://naeaa.com/

Insight to the instructional needs of youth horsejudging team coaches

A.A. Chisholm, and J.S. McCannVA Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061

The competitive horse judging youth activity within 4-H,FFA, and the collegiate ranks has traditionally beenregarded as an excellent training ground for various lifeskills. Yet competitive numbers are shrinking at the stateand national level competitions in Virginia and otherstates. To determine the skills of the coaches andinstructional needs of the leaders, a 27 question surveywas completed by coaches at the state contest from VA(n¼28) and Maryland (n¼22) in 2012. From the pool of

50 coaches, 46% had no judging experience prior tocoaching the youth team. Only 16% had judged at thecollegiate level. Yet 62% of the coaches indicated they hadsome comfort level with giving reasons. The majority ofthe coaches (56%) started judging practices at least3 months in advance of the competitions while 18%practiced throughout the year, but few teams practicedmore than once a week. Approximately 1 hr was theconsensus for the meeting length in both states. Duringthe practices, 72% of the coaches indicated they hadmembers place 2 to 3 classes each practice. Virginiacoaches seemed to be more demanding of reasons inpractice where one to two sets were common among allthe coaches. Only 23% of the Maryland coaches practicedmore than one reasons set/session. If practice buildsconfidence and competitiveness, then this practice differ-ence might substantiate the expectation that 32% of theVA leaders expect to have team members score in the 40+range while only 18% of the Maryland coaches expected40+ scores from their team members. In regard toresources, 60% of all coaches indicated dvd’s were used,followed by 42% live horses and 50% who utilized photo-graphs. Coaches felt that resource development would bemost helpful if the materials provided more classes topractice placing, terms, how to put terms together, and thereasons to accompany the classes. There was great supportexpressed for the development of a horse judging websitethat would be made available to coaches and youth aswell. Insight from this survey will be used by the VA TechHorse Judging Team to develop and provide a valuableresource to youth coaches in the near future.

Teaching and Extension: Graduate Student Competition

Horsemanship camp participants perceptions ofinstruction utilizing learner centered teachingstrategies

M. Voigt, S. McKinley, A. Davis, and C. BradyDepartment of Youth Development and AgriculturalEducation, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, 47907

Many riding instructors focus on the development of thehorse which is important; however, they often overlook theimportance of helping the rider develop an understandingof drills and concepts vital for continued success betweenrider and horse. The present mixed-methods study lookedat horsemanship camp participants’ learning preferencesand their feedback regarding training that is based onLearner-Centered theory. The study compared participants’satisfaction and views of being taught using constructivistand behaviorist instructional approaches. Participants of thestudy included 17 riders from a 3-day Dutch horsemanshipcamp utilizing Learner-Centered instructional approaches.Eight of the 17 (47%) participants had participated ina similar camp the previous year which utilized Teacher-Centered and behaviorist instructional approaches. A ques-tionnaire including open-ended questions, five point

usefulness scales, and five point satisfaction scales wasdeveloped to measure the participant’s response andfeedback to Learner-Centered instructional methods andsatisfaction of camp experiences. Additionally, learnerpreferences weremeasured on a two-sided Likert-type scale(Cronbach’s Alpha¼0.813). Participants found the Learner-Centered instructional methods utilized to be very useful asthey enhanced the participants’ understanding and reten-tion of drills and drill purpose. First year camp participantswere very satisfied (n¼16, mean¼4.63�0.50) with theconstructivist instructional approach. Qualitative responsesindicated that the participants found the Learner-Centeredteaching strategy more engaging than the Teacher-Centeredstrategy of the previous year. Rider’s reported mean satis-faction score of 4.44�0.52 (n¼8) in year 2, and mean satis-faction score of 3.50�0.93 (n¼8) in year 1 (P¼0.087). Half(50%) of the participants preferred learning in a construc-tivist setting, while half (50%) preferred a behavioristsetting. Findings indicate that the Learner-Centeredteaching approach was effective and engaging for partici-pants with both constructivist and behaviorist learningpreferences. Therefore, instructors should utilize Learner-Centered instructional strategies to enhance the learningoutcome of riders.