Enrollment Increases 128% In Six Years - Tiffin University

what’s happening > Equine Business Management
Tourism Management with the goal of one day managing a stable of my
own. With this major comes the requirement of an internship.
Ali Dittman’s Internship
alISON DITTMaN, JuNIOR
wINTER HaVEN, Fl
From the age of 7, I have loved horses. My aunt and uncle owned a 200plus
acres stable in Kentucky, where they offered trail riding, boarding, and
lessons. I would spend my summer and winter breaks helping them with
whatever chores needed to be done around the barn.
I eventually found a local riding facility where I began working in exchange
for lessons. I worked during the 7th grade and all through high school. I
have never owned my own horse, but I have had the privilege of riding
and gaining experience by showing all different types of horses in different
disciplines and levels.
When I heard about Tiffin University’s equestrian program, I was astonished
that there were schools that competed on an intercollegiate level. With
the help of my parents, I was able to visit TU’s campus. With such a new
program, we weren’t sure what to expect the first year.
Not only did I discover that TU offered an equestrian team, I also had the
opportunity to study Equine Business Management and Hospitality and
Dr. Brothers physically exams horse during class Morgan Dart (Novice Class at OSU Hunt Competition)
8 CHALLENGE > Fall / Winter 09
One day, I received an email stating, “Isn’t Hilton Head relatively close to your
home?” After a little bit of searching, I was so excited to learn about Lawton
Stables, hoping it would be the best place for me to do my internship.
I contacted the owner of the stables who asked me to send her a resume.
The head trainer helped me set up all the details for the summer internship,
including housing, utilities, salary, and most importantly, an opportunity of a
lifetime. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to see if tourism
with horses would be something I would like to do with my life.
I moved to Hilton Head during spring 2009 to start my internship and worked
through mid-August before returning to TU to continue my education.
My internship responsibilities consisted of working 6 days a week from 7
a.m. to 6 p.m. My summer was split between two different sections of the
barn. The first half of the summer, I worked on the lesson and boarding
side, where I would do the early morning feed and rotate all the horses from
pastures to stalls for the day. Because Lawton Stables is a tourist attraction,
many people would come for one lesson while on vacation. I would help
give these lessons, so that the head trainer could focus her attention on
established clients and their horses.