EquiSTEP is an annual statewide requirement for all youth participating in Ohio 4-H Horse Program activities and/or enrolled in a 4-H horse project. EquiSTEP replaces the statewide requirement of reading the Horses, Safety, and You (191R) resource and viewing the Every Time, Every Ride and Horses, Kids, and Ethics videos for youth and their families who are new to the 4-H horse program.
The EquiSTEP curriculum follows the 4’Hs and focuses on head (helmet safety), hands (equine safety & handling), health (equine health & nutrition), and heart (sportsmanship) and is designed to rotate topics every year.
EquiSTEP is designed to be completed online by each participant individually through Scarlet Canvas or administered in a group setting by a county 4-H educator to their participants, similar to QA for livestock market projects.
Here is the link to enroll in/access this year’s EquiSTEP: https://cfaesosu.catalog.instructure.com/courses/equistep-2025 (This link is also available at the bottom of the home page for horse.osu.edu.) The course opened at the beginning of February and must be completed by Fairfield County 4-H and FFA exhibitors by June 1st.
To complete EquiSTEP individually, a participant must enroll using their own unique email address. (Participants should not use their school email addresses as the course enrollment invitation will be blocked by the school’s email system.) Participants must view all five videos (introduction and STEPS 1-4) which last approximately one hour in total. Once the videos are completed, participants will be able to access the 10-question quiz. Participants must complete the quiz associated with the training and achieve a minimum score of 7 (out of 10) in order to pass the training. Once the quiz is successfully completed, participants will need to complete the course survey to trigger a certificate of completion. The certificate will be emailed to the participant’s email address as well as their county’s 4-H email address. The participant must select Fairfield County to trigger the email to the correct email address and they must click on the submit button at the end of the survey to trigger the email.