By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — With the Kentucky Derby less than a month away and Keeneland Race Course in full swing, equine enthusiasts in Kentucky have plenty of stories to hold their interest.
Most Kentucky horse lovers, though, have no idea how many horses claim the Bluegrass State as their home?

Until now, it was only an estimate. But thanks to the collaborative efforts of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, the UK Equine Initiative, the Kentucky Horse Council and the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), an initiative known as Horses Count is underway to collect anonymous information about the number and breeds of horses in the state.

As encouragement to help in collecting the data, counties are being offered the opportunity to compete for grants to support youth-related horse activities. The grants, funded by KEEP will go to the 10 county Extension offices that count the most horses.

Because the awards go toward youth-related activities, 4-H clubs in many of the counties are actively involved in collecting information.
Lori Garkovich, sociology professor in the UK College of Agriculture, said that the program will provide researchers with more information than the USDA census does which simply counts horses located on farms.

“We’re asking people to tell us whether they have mares, stallions or geldings,” she said. “We’re asking them to tell us if they’re registered and, if so, what is the breed registry. So that will be totally unique information.”

The count also asks about a horse’s primary use, which, according to Garkovich will illustrate whether people tend to have horses for show, to race, to breed, or for trail or pleasure riding.

“We’ll have a sense of how horses in Kentucky are being used, in addition to how many horses there are,” she said.

Garkovich also said the grassroots effort behind the program has worked well in getting the word out about the count.

“We started from zero and used a network of contacts to get information out. This was basically done by word of mouth and that’s why we call it a count. It is not a census,” she said.

“I think we have over 2,500 individual responses now, and I think that is amazing and we will know more now than ever before. This will allow us to build on this fabulous asset we have in the state that
I’m not sure we have fully developed.”

Horse owners who participated in the questionnaire were also being asked if they were willing to participate in follow-up studies.

Currently, close to 90 percent of those respondents agreed.

“We want to do follow-up surveys that assess the economic impact of horse activity in Kentucky,” Garkovich said. “For example, what and where do people spend on their horses and their horse-related activities? It would also be interesting to learn where people do their horse-related activities. Are there opportunities to increase the number of horse events in Kentucky and so capture monies that are being lost to other states? Finally, knowing how many horses are in a county is vital if there is ever a disease outbreak.”

“This is one of the most important undertakings for the entire horse industry that our organizations can do,” said Gene Clabes, interim executive director for KEEP.

“It is so important to Kentucky’s horse industry and to Kentucky for a number of reasons.

“First, getting an accurate count helps Kentucky maintain its status as the ‘Horse Capital of the World.’ Equally important, knowing how many horses there are in Kentucky helps us convince policymakers, businesses and non-horse residents in this state just how important horses are for Kentucky’s economy.”

This farm news was published in the April 11, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.