When we were in Montana at the ranch, one of the staff members was talking about homeschooling his son and how much learning there is in the day-to-day management of a ranch. This particular man was in charge of ordering and distributing hay to the horses and he showed me all the math he kept up with on his notes app. I wish I’d taken a photo. Nevertheless, it stuck with me and made me think about all the science and math in the horse barn.
Scientist of the Day
Theda New Breast, M.P.H. studies the public health of indigenous people at the Native Wellness Institute. She was born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.
https://www.nativewellness.com/theda-new-breast.html
I heard her on the GlacierNational Park episode of Washington Post’s Field Trip podcast with Lillian Cunningham.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/field-trip/id1692384254?i=1000618603802
Introducing the Science
Nutrition is nutrition in some ways, because we all have to take in the proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, vitamins, and minerals our bodies need. And a lot of those are the same for all animals. But, a grass-eating herbivore has adapted different systems for processing different foods than people. Nevertheless, learning about nutrition is a good introduction to horse nutrition. (Use any of these videos that are appropriate, or none at all.)
The Dewey Decimal system classification for nutrition seems to be around 612 and 613.
The other part of this topic is the horses. They do eat different things than we eat.
https://www.deephollowranch.com/category/feeding/
The animal husbandry section seems to be around 636. Horses seem to be 636.1.
Here’s another explanation:
https://www.livescience.com/32435-why-cant-humans-eat-grass.html
https://www.wellnesswarrior.org/can-humans-eat-grass/
Experiencing the Science
An interview with a barn manager or a large animal vet would be great here; or if you ride horses, have access to someone who feeds horses, etc.
Here are some games your horse kids might enjoy:
https://www.lovetoknow.com/parenting/kids/virtual-horse-games-kids
Analyze and respond
Multisensory
Think about the things horses eat. Look at grasses and hay, maybe visit your local fair or Tractor Supply to look at what horses eat. Alfalfa is sold at pet stores. You can smell some. What about wheat grass?
You can also buy alfalfa sprouts to eat at the grocery store.
Creative
Use whatever resources you have available to draw and label a photo of the human digestive system. Now draw and label a horse’s digestive system to compare.
There are tons of human anatomy coloring books at various levels of difficulty. Here’s one for grades 4-6, but there are even college-level ones for nursing students.
Here’s a horse anatomy coloring book too!
Verbal
Check out this article from the Science Journal for Kids. Read it using the tools provided. Check out the options for more learning ideas. Make an infographic, poster, public service announcement video, or flier to tell friends or family members what you learned.
Analytical
TIME FOR HAYBALE MATH!!! I found two exciting tools.
The first is this calculator from the Standlee Premium Western Forage company. Make up an imaginary horse herd. What do you need in order to feed them? Consider drawing your herd or building it with toy horses.
The next resource is this Math for horse lovers website! It has a ton of cool resources, which include a set of hay calculations.