How to future-proof the horse industry

[poltroon]

I think we have a fundamental structural problem. More people live in cities, which also makes that land very expensive. More people who have money live in cities.

As the old owner-operators retire, they sell their land for its current market value as is absolutely appropriate and their right. But the new buyer can’t afford to operate it as a working horse property, at least not including the mortgage. So if it stays a horse property, it’s a loss leader/land holding exercise for the wealthy owner or it is developed into something else.

This translates into fewer and fewer introductory level lesson programs in any discipline that is accessible to new riders (kids or adults). And without those introductory programs, there’s not really a path to horse ownership and much less of a path to horse loving/affiliation.

(Breyer remains a gateway, for now, and Breyerfest, which is this week at KHP, is potentially a way that people make the transition to get excited about seeking out real horses.)

Add to that that kids (and adults) have TREMENDOUS demands on their time and a lot of options, many more options than when I was a kid. These options have the advantage of having their friends doing them, or them having a clear connection to college/career, or being less expensive and more accessible, or all three.

Without beginner-friendly lesson programs near significant population centers, the horse industry will absolutely be shrinking, at at all levels, because without that base there is no top.

Add the concentration of wealth to fewer people in, count how many kids those people have, and well. In rural areas, again, you tend to get landowners who have a fair amount of money with only a few kids, and then a lot of workers who have kids but not much disposable income.

Rural areas remain affordable for having your own but they also rarely have much in the way of expertise or lesson programs. Remote workers may be able to take horses home to these kinds of places now - but I don’t think the next generation of remote workers is getting exposed to horses.

I think what we may end up with, best case scenario, is a handful of areas with horse concentrations, where there is a critical mass of professionals and available land, and where people who want to be around horses tend to migrate. I also think there’s maybe a future in horse resorts, places you go with your one week vacation to maybe get riding lessons, or maybe just fancy trail rides. But without the day to day opportunities to practice, those riders will not be able to develop high level skills.

Making resort type riding centers may be the best way for preserving some accessibility to riding introductions for upper middle class types. Philanthropic type ventures (formally or not) are probably the only ways that kids are going to get to meet horses in the city or even the suburbs, long term.

[frugalannie]

I just didn’t think of it that way because I worked several summers at a (non-equine related) job where our “pay” was room and board and any tips we might get if we had a food service job.

[Angela_Freda]

@poltroon

I think what we may end up with, best case scenario, is a handful of areas with horse concentrations, where there is a critical mass of professionals and available land, and where people who want to be around horses tend to migrate.

Yup, in my area there are a handful of barns worth considering (to frequent or work at) but on the job sites I visit most of the jobs I see are Ocala, Ocala, Ocala.

[Angela_Freda]

I think it’s far more common* for a job in a barn to offer board for a horse than board, as in food for the worker.

*imo it’s smart for barns that can’t pay workers as much in money as workers might actually be worth to offer perks that have value (but are cheaper than an hourly wage) like horse board, lessons, training, etc

I’m not sure I’m necessarily interested in eating what a barn might want to feed me.

[dmveventer]

@2tempe

There is a second part of “the middle” - those of us who board because we dont want to have to care for horse(s) on our own property. (We work full time, have family commitments, we are older, whatever)

All of this, plus add those of us who can’t afford to buy property that would support horses. If I save carefully over the next few years and prices don’t go nuts I should be able to buy myself a small condo while still supporting my horse; buying land anywhere in semi-reasonable commuting distance to my job isn’t going to happen unless I marry rich, and even then self-care really wouldn’t be ideal. I will happily pay more in board if it means barns stay open, since it’s the only way that’s feasible for me to have a horse at all.

That said, I’ve had to make deliberate choices to structure my life to support horses going all the way back to choosing what college to attend - it’s not something that I could have just fallen into if I hadn’t grown up riding and known it was what I wanted to aim for. I’ve had to sacrifice in other areas of my life to make it happen, and it’s definitely not accessible for people that aren’t willing to make it a top priority which just shrinks the pool of potential participants. As fewer kids get the opportunity to be around horses and more people have to balance increasingly difficult financial circumstances the industry will shrink every year and eventually the client base will just bottom out.

@poltroon

I think what we may end up with, best case scenario, is a handful of areas with horse concentrations, where there is a critical mass of professionals and available land, and where people who want to be around horses tend to migrate.

This is where I think things are headed. I’m in the DC area and I’m really not concerned about the industry dying here, and I’d be pretty hesitant to move anywhere that wasn’t similarly horsey because I just don’t think it’d be sustainable long-term. The critical mass we have here also keeps prices from rising too drastically since there’s still competition and a solid client base to support a range of businesses.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Right now the government is spending about $40 million a year on BLM mustangs in holding pens.

Why not spend that money to build training pens and pay trainers to train mustangs in holding? They could even provide bunkhouses and a stipend for trainers willing to train, since the facilities are remote. Trainers have seasons that are slow. They could do a three month or six month contract.

Also, add contracts to the National Parks to increase riding opportunities for the public. Kid’s camps, etc… Encourage the use of horses as pack animals instead of riding animals. People are fatter now. They could use a well-trained pack horse on long hikes or for camping. Too many parks have only one or two contracts and the prices are far too high for an average family.

Trained BLM animals can then be offered to the public. This will lower the cost and increase interest in riding. In fact, they also could train them and use them more extensively for police, state park rangers, national parks, and even make them available to state universities. College research, including forestry, climate science, ecologists, and biologists could use sure footed animals in remote areas as pack horses. Not for research. For transportation. They are better for the environment then side-by-sides, trucks, ATVs, etc…

Make it easier for people to be around horses and they will care about them more. We need to learn from countries with longer riding traditions, such as Germany, Ireland, and England.

[moonlitoaksranch]

And why isn’t anyone doing donkey trekking here in the US? We could even use smaller Mustangs for the same thing. Appalachian Trail. Rockies or just local state parks.

Donkey Walking Holidays Ireland - Clissmann - Walking Tours

[clanter]

@moonlitoaksranch

Why not spend that money to build training pens and pay trainers to train mustangs in holding?

already have Ninemile Remount Depot that is run by US Forest Service
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lolo/recarea/?recid=10297

there they have courses to teach “the best of traditional skills training, covering pack and saddle stock, traditional tools, dutch oven cooking, and many more subjects”

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/lolo/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5085919

Ninemile was an old Army remount ranch
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_021335.pdf

[moonlitoaksranch]

Well, there you go. Revamp and increase using BLM animals.

[BeeHoney]

I don’t have any answers, but I do wonder where the horse industry is going. Affordable boarding is disappearing–no one’s fault, it’s just that costs are increasing, especially labor. Testing out horse ownership isn’t a great option for a middle class family–any sensible family would steer their kids towards a more reasonable sport. Regular adults who would like to enjoy horses are also often daunted by cost. Even for people traditionally considered wealthy, owning a competition horse isn’t for the faint of heart–you could spend over $100K purchasing a horse and still not be competitive in the show ring. Of course that isn’t counting board and training, insurance, vet bills, tack, entry fees, farrier. Oh, and the horse could become incurably lame overnight. It’s just not as attractive as a lot of other things given those factors.

Also, horses have become less accessible due to cultural factors. Kids and adults who are out of touch with agricultural environments / farm animals have an extra hurdle to get over when starting out with horses–more put off by barn environments, the realities of dealing with large, messy and unpredictable animals, etc.

[hillary_again]

@poltroon: you nailed it. Unless something shifts, and big $ people start investing in entry level lesson operations, there will be fewer and fewer horses and riders, and that shrink will happen oh-so fast. It’s just a shame. You have to have the whole infrastructure: farriers, vets, feed, … There’s going to be Ocala, and I don’t know what else.

[frugalannie]

There have been some great responses, but I’d like to add a couple.

We have an 11 stall barn and an indoor, lots of turnout about 30 miles north of Boston. We operate as a modified co-op which I won’t explain herein, but it keeps costs at much less than half what a typical boarding arrangement is in this area. Participants are mostly mature (ahem) women, although a few are in their late 20s early 30s. What amazes me is that as a group younger women aren’t interested because 14 hours of barn chores a month is too much, and it’s too hard. And even the kids in the neighborhood have no interest. From the time I I was allowed to walk to the neighbors’, I would ask permission to spend time with their ancient horse, brushing him and patting him. Being allowed to ride was heaven, even if it was a walk around the yard on a lead line. I just don’t see that kids have that interest and I’m not sure why.

Then we have the animal rights folks expressing their beliefs about the roles of animals in our lives, including horses. 'Nuff said about that.

Add these issues to the ones described above, and I think the horse industry and equine ownership may not have a rosy future.

[clanter]

@BeeHoney

owning a competition horse isn’t for the faint of heart–you could spend over $100K purchasing a horse and still not be competitive in the show ring.

My daughter’s trainer rode a horse at Morgan Nationals where he placed second, the class winner bought his clients horse as she said she liked the second place winner better than her first place horse… $140,000

[Demerara_Stables]

@hillary_again

Unless something shifts, and big $ people start investing in entry level lesson operations

The problem is, “investing” isn’t that - it’s lighting money on fire to subsidize kids learning how to ride. Now, I’m just as much a fan of lessons being affordable as the next guy, but if the lesson barns don’t at LEAST cover costs, they cease to exist. Even people with money have to pay vets and farriers and buy hay and saddles. Everyone says they want affordable lessons but then they also complain that staff aren’t getting paid enough. You(g) can’t have it both ways. If the horses are to be cared for appropriately (turnout, quality feed and farrier, appropriate maintenance), lessons have to cost $150 each (at least in my area).

Now, is there room for every training barn that brings in $3k each month per horse to have a few lesson ponies? Maybe, but you have to be really good with your finances and very creative with fitting those lessons in between your 1.30m horses to make that work, and frankly, that level of trainer doesn’t want to (nor should they be) teaching up/down lessons. Maybe the advanced juniors should be teaching those kids? Do they want to, or do they want to leave the barn to go to their next 5 activities per day or sit on their trunk and scroll instagram? I’ll let you guess.

[BeeHoney]

Yes, agree with others, there are getting to be fewer and fewer entry points to equestrian pursuits. Lesson barns are disappearing, training barns are cutting out lesson programs and even summer camps are opting to focus on other pursuits other than horses due to expense and inconvenience. In most cases, it’s just business–these programs aren’t profitable. Customer expectations are hard to fulfill, and especially hard to fulfill at a price point that wouldn’t make those same customers walk away. The liability landscape has changed quite a bit over the years as well.

[lenapesadie]

@frugalannie

because 14 hours of barn chores a month is too much, and it’s too hard.

I work long hours in a competitive environment. Not an uncommon situation for young ish adult women earning enough to own a horse. There’s about 0 chance I could commit to an additional 14 hours of work per month on someone else’s schedule. I randomly need to work until midnight or the weekend or on holidays with no notice.

I care for my own two at home but it’s on my schedule and no commute. When I boarded, I needed to pay whatever it cost to have my horse cared for. Eventually I concluded that the kind of care I wanted for my horse simply wasn’t available at board barns in a reasonable commuting distance at any price point. We purchased a small farmette conveniently located near the equine hospital and feed stores etc. and love it. Am I saving money? No but the boarding situation pushed us to buy quicker than we had planned and as a result got a charmingly low interest rate in 2020.

My personal opinion about the future of the horse industry is that the cost of a new build is so high that it’s hard to recoup those costs teaching lessons and boarding horses. Existing farms near population centers have high land value for developers. They get sold and the horse facilities demolished. Logically, if we don’t want the sport to shrink then we can’t have a decrease in the number of facilities. Folks that might want to start a farm are looking at moving further out and likely having to build a farm from scratch. The cost of fencing, a barn and an arena are eye watering.

[Demerara_Stables]

@lenapesadie

The cost of fencing, a barn and an arena are eye watering.

No joke. Which makes the price they have to charge for board also eye watering.

[sami-joe]

Reading about the origins of each of our states might help clarify our disparate situations and solutions. Several states sprang from the notion of the commons, others had royalist beginnings, replete with grants from actual kings and queens. This is one of our fundamental struggles as a weirdly unified nation. Land use in the twenty-first century nation ranges from Bundyville to National Parks.

While I have more to say about this dilemma than many want to hear, I can wholeheartedly say that the Irish donkey-centric trekking opportunity was born of a commons-centric land use policy, i.e. one where we can cross property with impunity as long as gates stay closed and herds remain healthy and un-harassed.

Here in the US, a more liberal, communitarian view of land ownership, opposed like crazy by many landowners in the South and West, from way back when we stole a huge part of the earth from the indigenous population, is our only hope.

Our own dear Denny Emerson bemoans the loss of land access on the regular. He never, ever compares the land use policies of his beloved Ireland and the UK with ours, though.

As always, on the razor’s edge of politics and horses, I’ll delete if this crosses a line.

[Demerara_Stables]

@sami-joe

Here in the US, a more liberal, communitarian view of land ownership, opposed like crazy by many landowners in the South and West, from way back when we stole a huge part of the earth from the indigenous population, is our only hope.

I don’t see a way, in this country of lawsuits and idjits, that people will let others on their land to ride. I have lovely neighbors, with the exception of one, who bought a nearby parcel and promptly put up no trespassing signs (instead of just talking to me ) to keep me from trail riding on their 5 acres that I had been riding on for 6 years. Everyone else gives me permission and it’s much appreciated! However one neighbor requires everyone sign a release (fair), and they are the exception, not the rule. As a land owner, I’d think long and hard before deciding to let anyone I didn’t personally know ride on my land, and even then it would be with a liability release and probably cameras or supervision. There are just too many money hungry attorneys out there.

I can’t claim to know how other countries’ civil judicial systems work, but I’m going to guess they don’t have as many frivolous lawsuits as we do.

[sami-joe]

Agreed. Hence my suspicion that despite horses’ critical legacy in human evolution for maybe as long as 40,000 years, it may be this generation that cripples their future here on the very ground that equids first began.

If we want to sustain horses, we’ll need to turn property taxation, maybe the whole notion of private property, on its head, and, like you, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Because I only know a bit about the UK/Irish systems and their comparatively thriving horse industries, I’ll suggest that we do as they do: tax buildings, not acreage; tax depending on current use, not some fantastic capitalist Best Use™️ pipe dream; and that we all support, with our tax dollars and votes, transportation policies that include trains, monorails, buses, trams, bicycles, pedestrians, and horse-centric movement. Maybe another time I can say more about tax structure for US not-for-profits as compared with the EU et al’s state-sponsored stud farms, but it’s bedtime.

As for civil court proceedings, I cannot pretend any expertise other than to say, periwigged British Isle and Irish attorneys might laugh at the prospect of attacking a landowner or leaseholder, for many property possessions are leases from the Crown, to blame for a horseback rider’s bad luck.

There’s a reason one can ride a horse from one side of the UK and New Zealand to the other. They have protected this privilege of the commons. The US has not. The worst part is even federally owned land, i.e. millions of acres of land we all theoretically own, has too often been fenced and gated by private leaseholders with little to no oversight.

n.b. Thanks to a SCOTUS decision last Friday, any hopes of improved oversight have disappeared for the near future.