Transcript:

[0:03]

And welcome to this video podcast. How important is the equine industry — the horse industry, the donkey industry — in today's world, in the 21st century? Because if you think a couple hundred years ago, and then the preceding 2,000–3,000 years, you know, domesticated horses 5,500 years ago, but really when horses made big impacts on society around the world — especially in Asia, Africa, Europe — you know, a couple hundred years ago, they were it. They were your car, they were your transportation, they pulled your wagons, they transported goods to town, and through cities, and across continents.

[0:54]

So horses obviously have made a massive impact on human society these last few thousand years — changed our history completely. But today, you know, do we need horses? Are they important? You know, how critical are they? So that is really the topic of today: where we are in the 21st century with our horse industry, and then where we're going in the future, because it is still changing. And I will tell you, horses are still a critical part of many cultures around the world as far as their transportation — whether they live in very mountainous regions, there are certain countries that don't have as many roads, or it's just still part of their culture.

[1:50]

Modern-day horse life, where horses are an integral part of day-to-day life, like they were for many of us in the Western world — or, you know, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, all throughout South America, going over to Europe — many of the developed nations where horses are no longer needed, where we have automobiles, or we have motorcycles, or other vehicles that can get over rough terrain. But horses still are working throughout the world in many, many societies. So we're going to talk about that — and then in this Western culture, or it's not even just Western culture — I mean Eastern culture, I mean parts of Asia, horses are a massive part of their day-to-day life in the sense of companionship.

[2:44]

So when we look at Europe, and the United States, Canada, parts of South America, again Australia, New Zealand, Japan, horses are companion animals — and in parts, you know, Thailand and India and all these other countries. So kind of giving a spotlight today on where we are in the equine industry and how important it is to the world's economy. Because in today's world, in the 21st century, we still value things based on what they're worth — what's the monetary value of things — that's what we still place importance on. And if we look globally at the horse industry — and I'm going to get a little bit more into this and do some comparisons — but over $300 billion USD, I'm going to talk in United States dollars, $300 billion of the horse industry's contribution to their economic impact.

[3:40]

So what does that mean, and why care, right? Why is that important? So get ready — going to be fun, kind of a spotlight, and then we'll look at what people are doing with their horses, look at some of these surveys that have been done — these economic surveys — and you know, are people showing? Are they racing? Or just recreation riding? So I have some of those statistics I'm going to share with you today too — so really, really fun.

[4:13]

So taking that historical context — the last few thousand years — we know how horses, and donkeys because they're part of this discussion too, had such a big part in changing our history. But that all changed 100 years ago. Really it was pre–World War I, so you're looking in the early 1900s, early 20th century. Horses were still a big part of day-to-day life with transportation in cities and out in the rural areas.

[4:48]

So in the historical context, horses obviously were huge to us, we've talked about that, but it really changed 100 years ago in the early 1900s. In 1910, 1920, getting to 1930, they were still big parts of everyday life in big cities and in the rural areas — where if you wanted to go to town you had to get in your cart or you had to get on the back of your horse. Then with the automobile becoming more available with Henry Ford — he was big in the Model T with these assembly lines where they could make these vehicles quickly — and then tractors, and then that technology spread around the planet, and again this is all happening in the early 20th century, people didn't need horses.

[5:40]

So we saw horse populations spike and then crash. And not until the 1960s and 70s in developed nations like the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere did we see horses come back as recreation animals, where we are today in the 2020s. So, 100 years ago, horses were critical — they were absolutely vital. In 1900, you go around the planet, you needed horses, period, for the quality of life that people were living then. Whereas today, that still holds true in many countries, but in more developed nations we have electric vehicles now, and we have airplanes, and we're moving on trains, and we have motor vehicles — so that has diminished the importance of horses as far as day-to-day life.

[6:42]

But when we say $300 billion economic impact, that is very, very big. And I guess I should have opened up with this: I understand horses are super important to you in your life, because you're watching this and you're interested in it. They've had a big, key part in my life and I love them — they're important to me, they're super important to me. But what about the people around me that didn't grow up with horses or didn't grow up learning about horses? They don't care as much — but it still impacts them, because the community I live in, which is a little bit rural farming community, and there's many, many horses around me — those horse owners and all the things they do are what help my city, the economics of where I'm living, and that holds true for many, many parts of the world.

[7:43]

Okay, so thinking about this, I thought it would be good to revisit where all the horses in the world are, and then we're going to talk about what they could possibly do in those societies. So when we do a global view, there's about 60 million horses around the planet. There's about 40 million donkeys — because we haven't talked a lot about donkeys, and they're just right next to them — and donkeys are companion animals for many people, but they are still doing a lot of work in a lot of areas in the world, especially where we have high donkey populations — South America, Asia — those donkeys are working animals. Africa, where they still depend on them to do labor for their owners — they're a big part of the world still.

[8:25]

So there's over 60 million horses, they're on every continent except Antarctica, they're on tropical islands — wherever you go in the world there are horses and there are donkeys. And then we have our mules and all the other hybrids. Now, when we break that down — we'll start with Africa. 7.3 million horses, this according to data of the UN in 2020 — 7.3 million horses on the continent of Africa. So think about the importance there to the peoples there, to the many, many countries across Africa.

[8:56]

So if we go to South Africa — the country of South Africa — there is polo, there's a lot of recreation sports, there are people that own horses for doing some work, and then — I'm going to talk a little bit about this later too — horses that are patrolling on anti-poaching teams, you know, in these national parks in the country of South Africa. You go up to Central Africa, you have horses that are still working out there. There are horses that are in tourism — you know, I've seen in parts of Africa where you can ride a horse on the beach, that is going on there. And then when I visited Cairo close to 13, 14 years ago to give a talk at a conference, horses are super important to the people there too. Not only are they working — I saw quite a bit of working horses pulling carts and taking vegetables and fruits to the markets, things like that — but then you have some really good bloodlines of some of these Arab horses and other breeds in Egypt, where people own some really top stallions and mares, and they're important to them across North Africa.

[9:26]

So, 7.3 million horses there. Then we go to Asia, and there's only 14.1 million. Now I say “only” because Asia is massive, and you have billions of people living there — India over a billion people, China over a billion people — so, you know, where do horses fit in there?

[9:47]

Let's talk Japan and then move west. In Japan, horses were a very, very big part of their culture and their history the last few thousand years, but now Japan has some top thoroughbreds, they have some top bloodlines there for recreation. And wherever we go in the world, there's going to be horses doing some sort of work — whether it's police work or some of the other things I'm going to talk about — but in Japan, horses are still big, and they have some really incredible bloodlines.

[10:19]

Then if we go over into, say, China — horses not so much compared to donkeys. Very, very large population of donkeys there — working animals again. You do have recreation there too. And then I get into Mongolia — obviously it's a horse country. I mean, they are horse crazy in Mongolia, and they have some of the most incredible horses in the cradle of where some of these horses, in the early days, were domesticated. I mean, Eurasia — we're looking at Kazakhstan and Ukraine — but whenever you think of Mongolia, you think of horses, and Przewalski’s horse — that wild one — has been reintroduced there, so very, very important to them.

[10:54]

Then as you go — like I said, Kazakhstan — I just think of the Akhal-Teke, that gorgeous shiny coat, very, very big part of their culture still. Then you go south — India — I mean polo, recreation, working animals. And then across from Thailand — you know, we talked about that the other week when we were talking about diseases and African horse sickness. Then if I go all the way west to Southwest Asia, or what some of us call the Middle East, you have some incredible bloodlines there in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, where they love horses, obviously. And then you have, you know, the original Arabian and all these other types of horses emerging from that area. So horses are still a big part in Asia.

[11:54]

Then Europe — over five million. I'm going to break this down a little bit more later — where they are. You have a large population in Romania — still very much working, pulling carts — very, very important to those people there. But then I go Germany, Netherlands, France, and then obviously the UK, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland — they have some incredible breeds. And then you go down to the Iberian Peninsula — so many of our incredible hot-blooded, warmblooded horses that impacted the Americas came out of Spain and Portugal. And then Italy, and other parts of Europe — so horses are very important there, but that five million is probably mainly recreation. We'll break that down a little.

[12:42]

This one always surprises me when I look at Latin America and the Caribbean. I believe this includes Mexico, even though Mexico should be considered North America as a continent. But Mexico has a massive horse population — very much part of their culture there, some incredible bloodlines. You think the vaquero, the Mexican cowboy, the racing industry — they have all sorts. And then they have working animals too — you still see them working out in the fields. Donkeys are important there too, but very, very much part of Latin American culture.

[13:14]

Then all the way down to Panama, going through all Central America and then the Caribbean islands, where people still have horses for recreation, racing, and some other things going on there. So, huge amount of horses there. Then obviously North America — 10.9 million. Canada, the United States — we're going to break that down in more detail — huge economic drivers there, which we'll explain.

[13:36]

Oceania — 450,000 — so talking about all the islands, and I think Australia is in there too, and New Zealand here. And then South America — 13 million horses, and very much working horses, but polo in parts of Argentina and Chile. And then you have incredible recreation riders — you get a lot of these gaited horses, the Pasos and all of that coming out. Brazil — huge horse country, they love their horses, and a lot of them are working. A lot of working horses there too.

[14:17]

So that gives you a snapshot. When you look at where the horses are, and then you really think — okay, how important are they? They're huge. They're huge to these cultures around the world. So even though we don't really depend on them, for most of us, to get us from point A to point B, a lot of cultures still do. But they're still playing a big, key role in the world.

[14:47]

Then when you think about it — okay, you have the animal, then you have the owner. So you need someone to take care of these horses, you need feed for them, right? You need hay and other types of feed, the supplements and other things to feed them. They need medical and dental care wherever they're at. Farrier — you absolutely need farrier care, and whether they're working animals or recreation, that means you get a lot of jobs, a lot of things that drive economies. Like I said, where I live, horses are a key piece of keeping people in business.

[15:24]

So what's some of the jobs that they might be doing? We can look at recreation — and we've talked in many podcasts on that — all the different equestrian sports. But what kind of jobs? So horses are used in police work. Many years ago when I was training horses, I worked with the Houston Police Department at Texas A&M — we were training them, and with the cavalry horses that we were working with too. Because for parades and things, you need these horses to be really calm and really desensitized to loud noises and stuff like that.

[15:59]

So police work — you still see horses throughout the world being used. Ranch work — still people on the back of horses, riding, roping cattle, doing all the things that they do in South America, in Asia, in Australia, and of course in the Americas — Canada, United States, Mexico. So that is still a big piece of cattle management.

[16:24]

Logging — mules do this too, and maybe donkeys in small logging — but horses, draft horses, mules, they still are used in logging operations because they can get to areas that maybe a big tractor or something couldn't get to. So they are still quite used around the world for that. People still use them to plow fields — like I said, in Romania and other parts of the world they still are a big part of helping farmers farm, where they don't have big tractors or they can't afford a big tractor, but they can afford a draft horse or two to help plow fields and plant and grow food for their families — and that's their business.

[17:00]

We see tourism and carriage rides — like I talked about in Africa. In Vanuatu, where I went a few months back, we went on a horseback ride and the horses were well kept, well taken care of, gorgeous body condition — they were doing really, really well. And that helps the local economy — going out and riding a horse through the natural forest, along the beaches — that is huge around the world.

[17:36]

I talked about, like, South Africa — mounted patrols and wildlife conservation — which one of my friends, who started a foundation a few years ago, has now helped develop mounted patrols in some of these areas in Africa where poaching was high for elephants and white rhinos. Now he has mounted patrols, and they have trained the rangers there how to take care of their horses, and they use them to get around.

[18:11]

Therapy and rehabilitation — I'm going to talk about this later because, again, it's something I just love. I love that horses do that, because I love my connection to the animals and bringing that to somebody else and watching their faces light up and how exhilarating it is. And therapy — we’ll talk about that in more detail.

[18:32]

Search and rescue operations — again, horses can get to areas where vehicles couldn’t. In culture — I mean, it's still huge, still big. Then most of what our horses are today is — we do have working horses — but then we have recreation. That's where a lot of our horses live, that's what they do, where many of you probably live — recreation riding for sports, competitions, but leisure — just riding your horse, just going for a hack, or just going for a small ride through the forest. It just does something to the soul, right? That's why we do it.

[19:13]

And then you have racing. Racing is still a big economic driver around the world. And then one of the other things I really wanted to highlight was youth. All my friends, I tell them — get your kids involved with horses. Keep them out of trouble. There's something about children that get involved with these riding clubs, the 4-H activities, Pony Clubs — wherever you live in the world — where you get the youth involved. Many young girls want to get into horses, but many young men too — and I would encourage it, because they fall in love with these animals, and then they ride, and then they develop their skills and do it in a safe manner. It's something that has really changed a lot of students’ lives.

[19:59]

And I've seen them coming through. That's why, when I was teaching at the university level, a lot of these students coming through that grew up with horses — they were just more responsible, they were hardworking — maybe that's just my bias, I don't know, but they just seemed well-rounded students. And they loved their horses — they were horse mad. So definitely something I would say is important — the equine industry is very critical in the development of our youth throughout the world.

[20:40]

Okay, so let's get to the economic impact — because that's what people outside our industry care about. “Well, okay, why do you matter then? Your horses…” We say, actually, if it wasn't for the horse industry, this area would not be as built up. I mean, we have big farm shops and tack shops where I live — you go down, you see some beautiful farms, the fencing, the signage — all these things that are indirectly being supported by the horse industry, on top of the direct.

[21:15]

And I'll break down some of the direct. We’re talking feed — go to a hay dealer, I pay money to buy feed for my animals. That's a direct expenditure. But the indirect is the truck driver that had to haul the hay to his feed store, and everything that comes with that — so not only paying for the truck services, but that truck needs to be serviced, it needs fuel. In today's world we want to get some more electric and more sustainable, but think about all these little branches that are affected by me buying hay at my local feed dealer. There's many — and that's just hay.

[21:53]

Then I've got to go and get my supplements, and then I've got to go and get my equipment sometimes. So there's all these indirect and direct impacts — and that's the economic impact that an industry has. That's how they look at these numbers. That's what our politicians care about, our economists care about — what’s the economic impact, and if that industry went away, what would be the impact on the country as a whole, but also the town? If you took away all the horses that lived within, you know, a 20-kilometre radius or 20-mile or 10-mile radius of where I live, some of these businesses would shut down — because all of that economic impact matters.

[22:43]

So, the world is centred on economies — money — that's what we place a lot of worth on. And the government does listen, so that is why it's important that we know the industry matters, that we know we do have some power to influence policy and some changes.

[23:04]

Okay — so like I said, $300 billion. And that's low, I think. I think the horse industry as a whole throughout the world is more than that. But $300 billion — so let's put that into perspective. Travel and tourism is probably the biggest industry in the world that I could find, and it was valued at $9.2 trillion USD. We're $300 billion — that's just horses — the horse industry. Travel and tourism around the world, $9.2 trillion.

[23:40]

Not too far off the food industry — okay, that's feeding the near eight billion people on the planet — $5 trillion. Travel and tourism is worth more, food industry $5 trillion. Automobiles — $3 trillion USD. The horse industry is about 10% of that — the automobile industry, which has replaced the horse — the horse industry is still 10% of that.

[24:14]

So, big players — horse industry is still a massive player in the world's economies. On par with the video gaming industry — which blew my mind — the horse industry is on par with the video gaming industry, which has grown incredibly in the last 20–30 years, right, with computers — you see it with your children, some of you, me. The video gaming industry is worth about $300 billion in economic impact — the equine industry is worth about $300 billion economic impact around the world. The horse industry is actually worth more than the motion picture industry — so we have more of an economic impact than movies do.

[24:53]

So that was, I think, putting that in a global perspective — kind of cool, because you're like, okay, that gives you an idea of how big the horse industry still is. Sure, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, the horse industry was massive — it was critical to human development and our day-to-day lives. But here we are, 100 years later, where we don't need horses as much to travel, and it's still a big player because of this love we have for them, this companionship we have with them, this recreation and sports that we have with them — which again I'll break down.

[25:00]

So let me look at some individual countries, because that will give you a better idea. Plus, this is where a lot of this data comes from. There is not a world economic report on the equine industry, but there is in individual countries, and some of our best data, again, comes out of the United States. And there is an economic report that I’m going to talk about that comes out every few years.

[25:26]

So today, the U.S. horse population is estimated around 7.2 million. Back 10 years ago, it was estimated at 10 million. Now, from the data — and I’ve done some of these reports and worked with people that have done them — we think we’re pretty much underreported, because people don’t trust governments, they don’t trust surveys, they’re worried they’re going to get taxed on how many horses they have. So that’s kind of a lower number, but 7–8 million horses roughly in the United States now.

[25:54]

From the data, 30% of U.S. households — so the United States has a population of 333 million people, which is huge — 30% of them, so close to 100 million, have somebody that’s a horse enthusiast, that loves horses. Doesn’t mean they necessarily own a horse, but they love to go to horse events, competitions, they love riding horses, they care a lot about horses — still a third, roughly, of the people in the United States. That’s big — big interest there. And 1.3% of the U.S. population owns horses — so that’s over 3 million to 4 million horse owners there. So horses are still very popular in culture.

[26:20]

Now, the economic impact in the United States — this just came out — 2023 Economic Impact Study of the U.S. Horse Industry. The American Horse Council publishes this report every few years. $177 billion direct, indirect, and induced impacts to the U.S. economy. So I said the world was $300 billion — the U.S. is $177 billion, and this just came out a few weeks or months ago. So I think that $300 billion is a little bit low — it’s probably $300–$400 billion in that range. Because this report showed U.S. impact was $122 billion just 7 years ago, and here we are at $177 billion.

[26:58]

U.S. horse owners — some of you watching this have probably contributed to that economic impact — that’s huge. That is a lot of money that horse owners are spending to take care of their animals and compete and show. So horses are still a big part of American society. And I see it here, I see it here in New Zealand, I see it when I go to Australia — horses everywhere, they love their horses. The U.K. is massive — they’re horse crazy, I’ll talk about that one in a second.

[27:33]

Okay — so that was economic impact. And then jobs — we always hear it, especially during elections — job creation and all this. The horse industry in the United States employs about 2.2 million jobs. That’s directly and indirectly related to the horse industry. Directly meaning they own horses, they train horses, they feed horses — I’ll break this down a little bit more in participation. And then indirect — again, that truck driver, the people making feed and doing things that maybe they don’t directly work at a ranch or work at a facility, but their jobs are indirectly related to the horse industry. So 2.2 million out of the 333 million people that live in the United States.

[28:17]

Now, when you compare that — okay, so that’s huge, it’s a massive market in the United States. That’s why I had a job, that’s why I got to get a PhD and study horses for a while and do the things that I did. When you look at other countries, though, it’s just as big. So let’s go to the north — let’s look at Canada. Population — close to 39 million people live in Canada. 333 million in the U.S., 39 million in Canada, but horses are still a big part of Canadian life. Over close to half a million horses live in Canada, and there’s close to 855,000 involved in the equine industry out of 39 million — that’s crazy. I mean, just like the U.S., directly involved — these are people directly involved in the industry.

[29:02]

So, Equestrian Canada put out a report, and when they looked at their economic impact to the Canadian economy, it was $8.3 billion on just equine keeping — maintaining their horses. So when you look at the numbers and the economic impact, that is a big part of their economy. And then when you just looked at taxes — close to $900 million Canadian dollars spent in provincial and federal taxes in the horse industry. That supports their healthcare, their roads, all the things that Canada provides for their citizens.

[29:37]

And just feed alone in Canada — more than $1.1 billion was spent on horse feed. So a billion dollars in a country of 39 million — that’s massive for us, that’s huge if it was New Zealand, but for Canada $1.1 billion spent on feed. So there is somebody’s livelihood — growing hay, making supplements, making other types of horse feeds — $1.1 billion just in Canada.

[30:07]

So again, yes, it’s huge — the equine industry is a big part of driving economies. So the $8.3 billion on horse keeping — or equine keeping, because you’ve got donkeys in there too — when they looked at what horse owners were spending, 33% of their expenditures were on feed, so that was the biggest. 11% was spent on travel — so that is fuel, the vehicles, trailering costs. Then 10% for equine care products and services, vet care was roughly 10%, labour 8%, farrier care was 7%, and then it breaks it down — insurance was like 4% of annual cost, bedding 4% of annual cost.

[30:53]

So again, when you think of all those tentacles — that you spend money on these horses — it is supporting so many other things than just feed or just this or just that. Okay, so that’s Canada.

[31:02]

If we look at the EU — again, not a huge report, very tough to find this data — but they listed about $111 billion USD as their economic impact. And so the U.S. was upgraded to $177 billion, $8 billion roughly in Canada, and then here’s another $111 billion — so we’re already at that close to $300 billion. That’s why I said we’re spending more than what they estimate.

[31:23]

So, 5 million horses in the EU — employs over 400,000 people full-time in the equine industry. Now, the U.K. left the EU with Brexit, but they’re huge in the horse industry. They spend every year roughly £5 billion — so, pound to the dollar, that’s about $8 billion USD. £5 billion is the impact of the horse industry in the U.K. And they have close to 2 million people riding every week, over 3 million people riding at least once a year. So horses are still a big part of British society in the U.K.

[31:57]

Then, when you look at where the horses are in the EU and in Europe — and then the U.K. — Romania has close to 450,000 horses. The reason I bring that up is, again, think about what they’re doing in Romania — they’re using them to ride, they’re using them to pull carts, they’re using them to farm — so horses are still a very, very critical part of their day-to-day lives. In the U.K., you have close to 425,000 horses — a lot of that’s recreation: riding, Pony Clubs, racing — all of it, just like the United States, Canada, Australia — spanning the globe, a very big part of recreation.

[32:31]

Germany — 440,000 horses, again recreation mainly — you still have working horses obviously, but mainly recreation. France at 360,000. Break it down — Italy, Spain, and the other countries. So horses are still a big part of the economies and life in Europe. Still are, still.

[33:00]

Then I just did a quick look at Australia — $5 billion USD in economic impact, which is huge. Australia is only a country of 26 million people, so horses are a big part of Aussie life. Twenty-six thousand full-time jobs — and so that just gives you the economic power that the horse industry has.

[33:20]

So yes, it’s very important to the world, to economies, and to people’s jobs and livelihoods. It’s why I do this podcast, it’s why Mad Barn does what they do — because it is a big part of the world, and we love these animals. I mean, we love them — we absolutely love them. So, very, very big economic powerhouse.

[33:36]

Then I wanted to kind of look at what people were doing, because you do have a lot of jobs attached to the equine industry, and then, you know, look at owner demographics. Again, I have to go to that report out of the USA — I have a little bit dated data, but it’s pretty similar to that 2023 report coming out of the U.S.

[33:55]

When you look at the breakdown of what people are doing with their horses in the U.S., this report that I had a few years ago was 9 million horses estimated. Racing was 850,000 out of 9 million. Showing was 2.7 million of those horses — so a lot of people were showing, going out competing and things like that. Close to 3.9 million were recreation — so half the horses in the U.S., generally, are recreation horses. The “other” category was 1.7 million — that could be somebody that doesn’t ride anymore but still owns horses, therapeutic riding, or working horses.

[34:42]

So the biggest is recreation — we know that’s a lot — but showing is huge, competing is big, and the racing industry is still a powerhouse. Go to Kentucky, Florida, New York, California, Texas — where a lot of these bloodlines in the United States exist for racing, whether it’s quarter horse racing or thoroughbreds.

[35:03]

When we looked at jobs — okay, breakdown in the United States — roughly 2.2 million today is what they estimate for jobs. Racing, in this data I had, was close to 400,000 indirect and direct jobs. The showing industry — close to 400,000 jobs. Recreation — over 400,000 jobs. And then the “others” — the working, the carers, things like that. So when you think of 2.2 million jobs in the equine industry, you’re thinking of your trainers, your farriers, your veterinarians, your facility managers, your feed shops that are just horse-related, your specific horse feed companies — all of that supports 2.2 million jobs just in the U.S.

[35:53]

Then, when you look at what people who own horses are doing — breeding was small, 5% of the population. Competing — 10% of the population. Recreation riders — about 24%. Service providers — 3%. So these are people that directly own horses but weren’t necessarily competing or breeding.

[36:15]

Then I found this data really interesting — I always do — the distribution of horse owners by household income. When you think of a horse owner, for those that aren’t horse owners, you usually think, “Okay, somebody that’s wealthy — they can afford it,” right? No. In the U.S. — and this is again a little dated, but very similar demographics today — over the 2 million people that own horses, 11% made less than $25,000 USD household income.

[36:46]

Then, when you looked at $25,000–$50,000, that was 23%. $50,000–$75,000 was about 22%. $75,000–$100,000 — 16%. $100,000–$125,000 was 10%, and then after that it tapers off. But the majority of horse owners — 56% — make less than $75,000 combined household income. So it just gives you an idea: everybody owns horses — it doesn’t matter if you’re wealthy or not.

[37:20]

The other part I found interesting was not only income, but age. They didn’t report under the age of 18 — which again, youth I think is important — but horse people who own horses, by age: 18–29 was 16%, 30–44 was 35%, 45–59 was 41%, and then 60-plus was 6%. So 30–60 is where the majority of people that owned horses fall, because someone under 18 can’t technically own a horse — their parents own it.

[37:55]

Now, I did say therapy earlier. That is becoming bigger and bigger around the world. In the United States, there are over 800 programs for therapy — therapeutic riding programs, hippotherapy. Here are some of the things it has really helped people with, mentally and physically: substance abuse for both children and adults, psychosis — so mental problems — working with horses improves mood, stress. Obviously, I know horses can be stressful, but our mood, just when you’re working with them, alleviates stress. Psychological disorders, developmental disorders, children’s disorders, depression, domestic abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — soldiers coming back from war getting involved with horse therapy has improved them.

[41:00]

So that’s been big in the United States. All right, let’s look at a couple of other places where I can get some data. Canada — pretty similar demographics. When you looked at horse owners by age, 25–29 was 10%. Big jump up — 30–39 was close to 25%. Then back down to over 10% in the older brackets. So just across the board, very, very similar to the U.S.

[41:26]

Household income — again, very similar to what we saw in the U.S. Under $30,000 here was 5% of horse owners (in Canadian dollars). 14% made between $30,000–$60,000 CAD. Then 25% for that $60,000–$100,000 household income, and it just kind of goes up and then goes back down. So $200,000 or more was actually over 10% — combined household income in Canadian dollars.

[41:55]

When they asked them what they did — again, this was Equestrian Canada that put this out there — the most common roles in the equine sector are: recreation — close to 70% (69% of participants recreational ride), amateur sport competition — another 60%, coaches/trainers — less than a quarter of them at 23%, facility owner or operator — 15%, farm or ranching — 12%, breeder — 11%, health practitioners — about 6% of people that participated in the equine industry.

[42:28]

Then, what do they primarily do? A quarter recreation, a quarter amateur sport, close to 20% working animals, 15% breeding animals, and then the others. So it’s huge — it’s huge in Canada, it’s huge in Australia, huge here in New Zealand, obviously a big driver in the United States, still important in Europe.

[42:50]

And so all in all, just looking at what people are doing and who owns the horses — it’s not just the wealthy, it’s everybody. It’s all segments of society, it’s all countries on Earth. Horses are still playing a key role in day-to-day life. So not only is it important to us as a companion, but important to our economies, supporting our communities, and supporting the shop owners, and the people that grow the hay, and all those other outside — the veterinarians we talked about, how critical they are — the farriers, the equine dentists — all of these people are supported by this industry.

[43:35]

So, be proud. Be proud to be part of it. Get involved with it and understand that the horse industry isn’t going anywhere. When we look at the future — in the next hundred years, we’re still going to be riding horses. Next thousand years, we’re still going to be riding horses. So, you know, hug your little equine companion, thank them for everything they do for us, and just understand that horses are a key part in the society of the world today.

[47:04]

Thanks for watching.