Undergraduate Equine Specialization
UF’s equine program is structured around biological and physiological sciences, the management of horses, and business management. The majority of our equine-related courses have a laboratory component that allows students to interact with the horses and “learn by doing.” The class size of our equine courses is relatively small, which allows greater interaction between students and instructors and enables us to provide more meaningful hands-on opportunities to supplement the lecture material.
Our department maintains a herd of approximately 120 horses, most of which are broodmares and their offspring. This resource gives our students the opportunity to interact with broodmares during breeding, gestation, and lactation, and allows students to have the opportunity to work with foals, weanlings, yearlings, and two-year-olds.
Florida has an estimated 500,000 horses, with much of that horse population surging during the winter months as trainers and competitors come to Florida for the warm weather. A large sector of Florida’s equine industry is in Ocala, which is 30 minutes south of the University of Florida. This allows frequent interaction between students and the industry on field trips and club outings. It also provides a tremendous variety of opportunities for internships, which are a requirement for our Equine Industry degree specialization.