Study Reveals Horse Show Industry's Impact
Washington, D.C., July 26, 2007 -- For anyone who has participated in a horse show, be it at the national, state or local level, there is no doubt that these activities generate a lot of money. The American Horse Council's Economic Impact of the Horse Industry on the United States study includes some impressive statistics that confirm the significant impact of the horse show industry.
Among horse owners, 481,238 are primarily involved in competition. That accounts for 10.33 percent of the total number of people who participate in equestrian activities, be they horse owners, employees or family members or volunteers.
To take a closer look at the population of the showing segment of the horse industry, the Economic Impact Study breaks down the number of horses by breed. There are more than one million Quarter Horses being used specifically for showing purposes. Meanwhile, 336,992 Thoroughbreds and another 1.3 million horses belonging to "other" breeds are involved in showing and competitions.
The owners of all of these horses spend and generate a lot of money to stay in the show ring. The resulting effect on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the showing industry alone is $28.8 billion--$10.8 billion are direct effects and $18 billion are indirect and induced effects.
This economic information can be broken down even further by specifying the effect by horse breed. Thoroughbreds used for showing have a $2.2 billion direct effect and a $6 billion total effect (including indirect and induced effects) on the GDP. Competition Quarter Horses have a $4 billion direct effect and $10.8 billion total effect. The rest of the breeds have a $4.4 billion direct effect and $11.9 billion total effect.
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The revenues and expenses for an individual show can vary widely based on location, size and number of participants. However, the Economic Impact Study concluded that the average show generates $158,724 in revenues and has $135,740 in general operating costs. There are also federal, state and local taxes to be paid, which total an average of $604. These numbers do not even include the revenues and expenses related to any show that cannot be tracked by those organizing the event.
Thousands of employees are required to keep all of the money flowing and these horse shows running. The Economic Impact Study converts part-time and seasonal employees into a full-time equivalent basis to accurately determine the number of jobs generated by the horse industry. The showing industry generates 99,051 full-time equivalent positions. Jobs associated with competition Thoroughbreds equal 27,107, Quarter Horses 35,067 and "other" breeds 36,877.
When you add the number of jobs generated directly by the industry and add indirect and induced employment, those numbers go even higher. Indirect employment represents jobs provided as a result of spending by industry providers and induced employment represents jobs provided as a result of spending by industry employees. The showing industry has a total effect on full-time equivalent employment of 380,416 jobs.
The American Horse Council's Economic Impact of the Horse Industry on the United States study contains all of these statistics and more. The comprehensive study also analyzes the racing and recreation industries, as well as breaking down all of these numbers by state for the 15 states that participated in breakout studies.
The national study and individual state studies are available for purchase from the American Horse Council or by phone at 202-296-4031.
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