Ran across this and thought people here might enjoy them. They’re horse-related maps from USDA census data.
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That was pretty interesting.
Super interesting, thanks for the share. The last one, “Horse per Square Mile”, is basically a visual representation of why I moved to Lexington 
It basically all makes sense… except for LaGrange County, IN??? What horsey-ness is going on there?
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Probably Amish.
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That is interesting, especially the one that shows how many horses per county. As a side note, I had no idea Texas and Oklahoma had so many counties!
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@dags – @libgrrl is correct --the Amish population in LaGrange Co rely on both light and draft horses. When the kiddos were small, we used to play a game as we drove from our farm to the vet’s office (We are Elkhart County, vet was LaGrange County) —the kiddos each counted the horses on her side of the road —often it was well over 200 by the time we arrived 20 miles to the vets. Two really big breeders of draft horses are there or were there: Jesse Graber had Belgium draft and Sy Hershberger had Percherons --pretty sure Sy has passed, but Jesse may still be in the business.
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Thanks @Foxglove! I had no idea. Absolutely floored they beat out Fayette & Bourbon Counties in sheer number, and are just behind us in density. That is a lot of horses I didn’t even know existed 
Trivia…Georgia is second in number of counties, with 159, following #1 Texas.
@dags —While I understand there is a perception that “The Amish” don’t care for their animals, the density of horses in this area does allow all us horse owners a greater number of large animal veterinarians than in many places --and harness shops, horse shoers (one on every corner), horse trailer repair and manufacture, and an abundance of hay and feed mills. I’d like to think that drivers in this area are more aware of horses being used on the road (driven and ridden) but recent horse/car accidents have led me to believe perhaps not. On the other hand, with the number of horses used ON the road, perhaps it is a false statistic.
As to “The Amish” (using quotes b/c most English people [that’s everyone not Amish] lump everyone who looks rustic as Amish when the people could be Beechy, Hutterite, Mennonite, or Amish. Even the Amish as a group are as varied in their religious practices as every religious group is varied —my dad would only attend High Episcopal Church after the Catholic Church switched from Latin --but my ma attended low church --they were both Episcopalians.
The Amish who are my neighbors have their own interpretation of Scripture and prohibitions. My nearest neighbor has a computer set up in his barn that rivals NASA --but no electric in his house. My other neighbor has a mega tractor, skid steer, bob cat, and all the attachments --but drives a horse and buggy. My more conservative (in a religious sense) neighbor never calls but comes over if she has a question or needs a ride some place --the others all have cell phones and there is, I am told, an Amish phonebook so they all know each other’s numbers. The Amish neighbors I have work in factories building RVs, side-by-side with English coworkers so are very comfortable with English language and English people like me.
However, just south and just north of me are communities of “cloistered Amish” --the groups that have members who only leave their farms to go into town once a year and only see English people rarely. From what I hear from my Amish neighbors, they find such people unsophisticated. They used a different word but you get the idea. And on the lighter side, there is a group of conservative Mennonite West of me that drive tricked out buggies --lots of chrome --and flashy harness on their Dutch Harness Horses --my neighbor called them “Gay Amish” --and I don’t think he meant “Gay” in the same sense as most English people use it --but as in “high spirited.”
While I must say that no one, English or Amish, takes as good care of their horses as I do --but then don’t we all do the best we can and the best we know --I have yet to personally see any Amish person, adult or child, abuse or neglect their horses. The only disagreement my neighbors and I have is about vaccination --I have spoken (politely) to each about the need to vaccinate for tetanus specifically --and while my neighbors do treat for worms --none vaccinate ----agh! After one neighbor lost his horse to tetanus, I printed off a one page “Why We Need to Vaccinate for Tetanus” paper and gave it to each. Don’t know if anyone took heed, but I tried.
And since I am babbling on --puppy mills —my Amish neighbor has a small 3 dog kennel. He is very proud of it. He showed me his USDA certificate of inspection of his kennel. It has heated floors, air conditioning, and clean-clean-clean kennel runs. He power washes the floors daily while his three kids play with whatever puppies he has in the yard – He breeds puppies [Golden Doodles–miniature] to sell. Does that make him a “puppy mill?” I bought my last three dogs from a breeder whose kennel wasn’t half as nice – I am not naïve enough to think every Amish dog breeder is as contentious as my Amish neighbor, but then I don’t think every Amish or English dog breeder is running a puppy mill.
Anyway —Northern Indiana is a good place to live if you like horses!!
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