Rebecca Fisher Horse and Pony Breeds of the USA Length International Academy West 2012 1 Table of Contents The Goal: page 3 The Selection of Sources: page 4 Application of Information: page 6 Achieving the Goal: page 8 Reflect on Learning: page 9 Bibliography: page 11 2 The Goal When this project was first assigned to me and I was told I could do whatever I wanted, many ideas came to mind, most revolving around animals. I like animals and I love horses. After a lot of thinking I decided to combine two things I love and want to learn more about which is America and horses. Before starting this project I already had some knowledge of both, since I live in America, and I have been around horses for 9 years. However, I could not tell you what colors represent different horse breeds or if they were American breeds or not. Therefore, I made the decision to research this topic and present it in a scrapbook format to make it a fun learning experience. My inquiry question was easy for me to define. How can I teach others and myself about American horse breeds and keep it entertaining? This requires more than a simple answer, because I knew I’d have to find a balance between teaching the information and trying to keep the attention of others who may not be interested in the topic. My goal was to make a scrapbook that gives information on America as it relates to horse and pony breeds, while making it look very pretty and appealing. It needed to help teach visual learners as well as hands on learners about these breeds in an interesting way. For this reason I knew I could not overload the pages with information, so I included multiple pictures, stickers, words, and other scrapbooking techniques. In my personal project I put a lot of thought into what area of interaction it would fall under. After considering all the areas I realized it fit best in Approaches to Learning. It is categorized in this way because I taught myself about it as well as shared my final product 3 with others so that they can learn from it too. I focused specifically on the part of self teaching during this project because of my love of horses, and a desire to learn in creative ways. Though my end product can easily teach other people about the breeds, through this project I had to learn more about scrapbooking as well as learn the specifics of the horse and pony breeds I was including. Selection of Sources Due to the fact that my project required a substantial amount of research on a large topic I found myself using many different sources. I sought information from dictionaries, encyclopedias, movies, websites, humans, and books. I found two of my sources to be quite helpful in gathering research because between the two they covered all the breed information I needed. Coming up with the titles of the books I would need was relatively easy since I could quickly do a search on my Kindle related to my subject. Instead of getting them as E-books though I tried to retrieve them all from the local library. This proved to be a bit of a challenge because my town’s library only had a select few of the books I needed. I wound up having to wait while the books came in from other libraries all across the state. The most valuable source I used for the breeds was by far The Official Horse Breeds Standards Book: The Complete Guide to the Standards of All North American Equine Breed Associations1. This book gave me an extensively detailed run down of every horse breed in the world and it also had a section that separated the American breeds from the rest of the breeds. This was extremely valuable when it came to the breed information. 4 Another source that was notably helpful when it came to breed information was the website horsebreedslist.com2. This website included a section also dedicated strictly to the American horses. These books and website provided a tremendous amount of information on the breeds, but not so much on the history of the horse in America, the uses of them, or the information I needed of them, so I had to go find other sources. I did not only use second hand sources though. This lead me to conduct a survey3, that got distributed around to numerous people I know who are horse owners, trainers or riders. I incorporated these survey results as well in my final product. I think by doing the survey it made my book a little more dimensional and easier to enjoy. I was comfortable doing the survey because I knew everyone who took it on a personal basis. Conducting the survey was convenient, and I think it was very helpful to do. I also used the most formal source I know which were a dictionary4 and encyclopedias5. These sources aided me in my research of the formal definition of a horse and pony and also Paul Revere and his ride of fame. My family owns a full set of these books and I’ve used them on many occasions to gain knowledge of subjects. 1 Lynghaug, F. The Official Horse Breeds Standards Book: The Complete Guide to the Standards of All North American Equine Breed Associations. Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2009. Print. 2 PuzzleDesigns. 3 Milford "American Horse Breeds." Horse Breeds List. PuzzleDesigns, 2009. Web. High School Equestrian Team. "What Are Horses." Interview by Rebecca G. Fisher. n.d.: n. pag. Print. 5 4 Morris, William. "Horse." Def. 1 A. The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. 623. Print. & Morris, William. "Pony." Def. 1. The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. 964. Print. 5 Encyclopedia Britannica. "Revere, Paul." Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th Edition ed. Vol. 10. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica,, William Benton, 1974. 8. Print. Application of Information The very first decision I had to make was what Area of Interaction I wanted to work with. After investigating all the different areas and seeing an example of each one I decided to select Approaches to Learning for the context of my Personal Project. I have chosen this area of interaction because I desired to explore how to teach people things about different horses through a scrapbook. I chose this topic for my project because after filling out many charts and answering multiple questions, I realized horses appeared time and time again which would make sense because of my love for horses. The final decision before I had all things cleared away with my topic and area of interaction was my inquiry question. For this I brainstormed four different questions that could work, and selected the one that seemed to work the best. My final product spoke to me from the very start so it only made sense to go with the scrapbook. 6 I found myself faced with the choices of what scrapbook to use. I went to the store and looked at the large selection of scrapbooks they had but I wanted one that fit with the theme of my book and my own personality. For my book I knew I wanted to include basic knowledge so I wrote a list of possible things to put in it. Things like colors, hands, genders, and horses and ponies. I also wanted to give people a brief description about history, uses, styles of riding, markings, my personal experience, and horses in many people’s lives. Selecting the format for the scrapbook was easy for me since I already knew what I wanted to include, however it took quite some time to gather all the information from the variety of sources I was using. Sometimes, I found myself getting confused on breeds and photos I had selected. I laid out pages for the scrapbook alphabetically thinking it would be helpful for the reader. Deciding color schemes for each page was sometimes challenging and I solicited ideas from magazines, and family members. I had a lot of ideas of my own and I liked the natural, neutral colors found in nature since horses are commonly associated with nature plus it shows a part of my personality. As the investigation took place I mastered the technique of putting useful information on note cards and having them grouped. I made sure that the only information that was written on these note cards was relevant to my project. I also learned the technique of consciously limiting the information I used for each breed so I did not exceed the space set aside for that specific breed. I also mastered the settings of Microsoft Word and my printer as well as the scrapbooking tools. I found it helpful to lay out the pages before gluing anything 7 down, after accidently gluing down a page and realizing it was sideways in accordance to the front side. Achieving the Goal I had envisioned my project to encompass all breeds of the world but after some consideration I decided to focus solely on the American horse breeds that originated in America or arrived here a long time ago and are integrated throughout America’s history and people. The thrill of seeing each page come together and my creation become a reality was a very rewarding experience. As more and more pages became completed I felt more successful. I feel like I have met and exceeded all of my own expectations for this project, as well as the requirements from this class. My specifications overall were the guidelines for this product. They were to integrate information without it being overwhelming while making sure the scrapbook still had a light, creative, pleasant, and professional look to it. I feel like I completely achieved this goal and should receive very high marks for my product. Each page has a well planned out design for it to ensure it fulfills my specifications. They are all colorful with pictures, stickers, and have a easy flow that is pleasing to the eyes and mind. The organization was also a huge specification I had for my final product so by having my information in the same order for each breed it was simple to follow. I believe my final product is appealing to any reader regardless of age or 8 horse interest level. I believe this because I have received praising remarks by all the different people I have shared it with. Reflect on Learning I learned multiple things through the process of investigating. I learned how to coordinate colors, resize images on my printer, switch things to landscape format, how to conduct surveys, as well as the obvious and biggest thing I learned which was horses in America and American horses and ponies. I came to the conclusion that I could teach others and myself about American horse and pony breeds if I was able to keep it interesting and present it in a way that was fun and interactive rather than just boring report or essay style learning so by making a scrapbook it was the perfect balance. The aspect of my investigation that really helped me reach a better understanding of my topic was defining all the information and specifics I would be including in my scrapbook so I could make sure to keep a good balance between information and creative appeal. This was much more helpful when it came time to gather information so I actually knew what I was supposed to be finding. From doing this project I have a much better understanding when it comes to my area of interaction. At first I was very confused and did not really understand what my area of interaction. I realized that Approaches to Learning is not just about teaching others but also 9 can include teaching myself so it I was able to fit my project into both of these categories in this area of interaction. According to my self-assessment my project exceeded my plan. I did many things well but there is one thing that I did exceptionally well I think. This would be the creativity component. Every page is different in design, format, coloring but still coordinate and work with each other following the same theme. If I had the chance to do a similar project I would improve upon time management and not take days off of my project and do nothing. 10 Bibliography Burns, Deborah. Storey's Horse-lover's Encyclopedia: An English & Western A-to-Z Guide. Pownal, VT: Storey, 2001. Print. Caldwell, Betsy. "Horse Quotes, Sayings, Poems, Thoughts on Horses." Horse Quotes, Sayings, Poems, Thoughts on Horses. The Quote Garden, 04 July 2012. Web. Canfield, Jack, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker, Gary Seidler, Peter Vegso, and Theresa Peluso. Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul: Inspirational Stories about Horses and the People Who Love Them. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 2003. Print. Encyclopedia Britannica. "Revere, Paul." Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th Edition ed. Vol. 10. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica,, William Benton, 1974. 8. Print. Hartley, Edwards Elwyn. The New Encyclopedia of the Horse. Ed. John Katriona. London: DK, 2000. Print. Lynghaug, F. The Official Horse Breeds Standards Book: The Complete Guide to the Standards of All North American Equine Breed Associations. Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2009. Print. Many Horses, Emil Her, and George P. Capture Horse. A Song for the Horse Nation: Horses in Native American Cultures. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub., 2006. Print. Milford High School Equestrian Team. "What Are Horses." Interview by Rebecca G. Fisher. n.d.: n. pag. Print. Morris, William. "Horse." Def. 1 A. The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. 623. Print. 11 Morris, William. "Pony." Def. 1. The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. 964. Print. Paust, Gil. The Complete Beginner's Guide to Horseback Riding. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1977. Print. PuzzleDesigns. "American Horse Breeds." Horse Breeds List. PuzzleDesigns, 2009. Web. Rosenthal, Mark, and Lawrence Konner. "Flcika." Flcika. Dir. Michael Mayer. Prod. Gil Netter. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Beverly Hills, California, n.d. Television. 12