Story in Brief
The majority of horse owners use their horses primarily for recreational purposes and may lack knowledge and guidance on best practices regarding equine management. The Lincoln County Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) Extension agent developed curriculum and coordinated a series for horse owners. The Horse Owner’s Virtual Webinar Series was held weekly in August of 2020. A total of 283 online registrants were from 30 states and two countries. The average weekly attendance was 58 participants. UGA Extension agents from Lincoln, Monroe, and Morgan counties collaborated with a UGA equine specialist and two industry professionals to develop program topics and associated curricula. A voluntary post program assessment was conducted for each session. A second survey was required to access the webinar recordings, handouts and other materials from the class. Surveys showed program attendees were most comfortable with the equine diet, with 32 percent of attendees stating they were very or extremely knowledgeable about the topic prior to the presentation. The greatest knowledge change occurred for the feed tag presentation, with 83 percent of attendees reporting they were very or extremely knowledgeable after the presentation, compared to only 5 percent prior to the session. For all sessions, those participants who had no prior knowledge of the topic stated that they were more knowledgeable after the presentation. Changes in knowledge attributed to the seminar series showed, on average, 55 percent of the participants reporting they were very or extremely knowledgeable on the presented topics after the program, compared to 28 percent prior to the program.
