Equine College Programs for Women

Women’s colleges offer horsewomen many options. I’ve been meaning to write more about this topic. The good news is I came across an excellent blog post by Randi Heatherman, The Equestrian College Advisor. In her post she talks about Saint Mary-of-the Woods College and their equine program: Equine Business Management, Equine Studies, Equine Science, Equine Training and Instruction, and Equine Assisted Therapy. Check out the college's facilities and faculty. And here's a Equine Quick Facts link.

Blog Post Highlights

“Affectionately known as “The Woods,” the college was founded in 1840 when six nuns traveled to America from France to create a much-needed school for women. Today, the college is still an all-women’s school and focuses on educating female leaders for the future. In fact, the college’s tagline (which accurately describes both the school’s beautiful setting and their mission) is “Send her to the Woods; she’ll find her voice.” . . . The most popular majors at The Woods are human services, education, psychology, biology, medical technology, music therapy, and they also boast a strong equine science and equine studies program. The majority of the majors require an internship prior to graduation and the campus’s career services office conducts frequent workshops on how students can best set themselves up to apply for graduate and professional schools. For equestrian students, The Woods has a tremendous equine major program, a wonderful facility, and several fantastic school horses available for students to use. The most impressive facet of the equine major program is the focus on the hands-on aspect of horse care – notably, every student must learn to drive both a fifth wheel and bumper pull horse trailer and operate a tractor. (In many equine programs, these skills are taught as part of elective courses – even though I never met a professional horse person who didn’t find that to be an essential part of his or her daily work.)”

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is located in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. To learn more about the college, visit their Web site.

To learn more about the services of The Equestrian College Adviser visit her Web site or blog.

From the “About” section of Randi's Web site:

"Today, Heathman is the only practicing independent educational consultant who can include both enrollment and intercollegiate equestrian experience on her resume. She is an associate member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), and travels to many college campuses, educational workshops, and equestrian college fairs each year so that she can be familiar with the unique offerings of a variety of colleges and universities and best assist students in finding their right-fit school.

A lifelong horsewoman, Heathman is a member of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the United States Dressage Federation (USDF). Growing up, she competed in a variety of disciplines before concentrating her efforts on dressage. In 2009, she and her Dutch Warmblood gelding Ricochet were named GAIG/USDF Regional Champions at second level in the adult amateur division. She is a USDF bronze medalist and blogs about her training experiences at Barnby Notes.

To keep up with Randi's latest college visits, application tips and advice, and information, follow her on Twitter, like her Facebook page, or visit her consulting blog. She is also contributes educational content to Junior Equestrian Magazine, recruits new bloggers for the Barnby Notes Equestrian Training Notebooks web site, and was a featured speaker at the 2013 College Preparatory Invitational Horse Show in Wellington, FL."