Traditional horse 4-H programs develop life skills and knowledge in youth. Horseless horse programs lack evaluation for the same benefits. This study evaluated and compared four horseless and seven traditional horse participants from Washington County 4-H in Utah for gains in horse knowledge and development of 10 life skills that are commonly found in 4-H curriculum today: leadership, teamwork, self-responsibility, personal safety, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, goal setting, communication, and concern for others.
The researcher conducted interviews to learn about life skill experiences of the horse program participants and discover what barriers prevented horseless youth from participating in traditional 4-H horse clubs. Participants also took a short knowledge quiz and a demographic survey. Money was identified as the most common reason horseless participants don’t have access to a horse and cannot participate in the traditional 4-H horse program. When compared, traditional horse youth showed greater life skill development and knowledge gain than horseless participants.
Recommendations for future research into horseless programming included using other forms of research to evaluate the program further and identifying life skills for a statewide horseless curriculum.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-8845 |
| Date | 01 May 2020 |
| Creators | Johnson, Haley M. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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