A recently released survey conducted by American Horse Publications (AHP) painted a hopeful picture of the economic challenges currently facing the country’s horse owners and their thoughts on the horse industry’s future.
AHP collected information from 10,539 respondents online this spring and summer, asking readers of member publications about the number and types of horses they manage, as well as the impact of the recent recession on their horse keeping. A similar survey was completed two years ago.
The results created an image of the demographics of the average horse owner.
Although responses were accepted from those 18 and older, more than half of survey takers were between ages 45 and 64 and nearly 91 percent were female.
The survey also quizzed owners on how their horses impact the local economy. About 41 percent pay to board their horses somewhere other than their own property, with 42 percent pay for riding lessons and 33 percent paying someone else to train or exercise their horses for them. Additionally, more than three-quarters of survey takers purchase their horse’s feed at a locally owned store; around half purchase their supplements locally, also.
While 81.8 percent of survey respondents answered that they felt costs of grain and hay had increased over the last year and one-third believe veterinary costs have increased, 68.1 percent reduce costs in other areas of their lives to cope with these increases.
Despite all these cost increases, however, most people said they expected the number of horses they own or manage to stay the same or increase in 2013, though one-third plan to attend fewer competitions as a way to cut costs.
“The equine industry continues to face many challenges,” stated Jill Stowe, University of Kentucky associate professor in agricultural economics, “but it appears that the industry is beginning to recover from the great recession of 2008, as indicated by the percentage of respondents participating in the industry, either through owning/managing horses or competing with them at the same or greater levels than two years ago.”
The top three concerns horse owners voiced about the future of the industry were the problem of unwanted horses (and what to do with them), rising costs of horse ownership and overbreeding. Interestingly, concerns about overbreeding seemed to be more prevalent in younger survey-takers.
Owners concerned about the problem of unwanted horses suggested a range of solutions, including humane euthanasia, castration clinics, improved owner education, regulated breeding and slaughter (interestingly, nine times as many respondents were for slaughter as a solution to the problem of unwanted horses as were against it). An “unwanted horse” is typically one that can no longer perform its job due to physical infirmity, age or temperament, and is not in high enough demand to be sold or adopted. The “unwanted horse problem” came to a boil immediately following the 2008 recession.
The national survey results came just ahead of news that the 2012 Kentucky Equine Survey has reached a major fundraising threshold, which will allow it to receive matched funds from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. Kentucky’s survey will focus primarily on a census of the state’s horses and their uses, as well as putting dollar figures to the equine industry’s impact. The Kentucky Equine Survey was mailed to 15,000 horse owners in the state; data collection will close Oct. 12, with results expected in December.
Major funding for Kentucky’s study came from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture and some 70 private equine groups, businesses or individuals.
“It is encouraging to receive such strong industrywide support for the Kentucky Equine Survey, because it again underscores the importance of having good data to help develop the state’s signature industry to its fullest potential,” said Stowe, who is also project lead for the Kentucky survey.
A reliable state horse census has not been taken since the American Horse Council estimated the industry’s impact on Kentucky to be $3.5 billion in 2005. At that time, there were 320,200 horses in the state.