Equine Liability

27 Mar posted by

Enjoy this post from a very bright student with whom I enjoy exchanging ideas…

Hey all! Sounds like Jenn is having an absolute blast at Buck Brannaman’s clinic this weekend (very much look forward to her posts!), so this Colorado cowgirl is lucky enough (woohoo!!!) to get to write a guest post for her. So, enough with the exclamations points, let’s get serious here.

Jenn’s done a great job with her series on “State of the Horse Industry” and since I’m a graduating senior in Colorado State University’s Equine Science program, we both thought it’d be fitting to write up on a recent lecture I got in my Equine Production & Industry course on the Equine Liability Act.

We were fortunate to have Mr. George Johnson, Jr, who is an avid horseman and attorney in equine law, speak to us about the Equine Liability Act this week. Some interesting facts he brought to our attention:

-There is no “equine” law per say. It simply is taking the rules of law and applying them to the animal and industry we love so dearly. However, it complicates the interpretation of law because the horse and its industry are particularly unique.

-The horse industry is far more emotional than most areas covered by law, which (again) creates challenges in its interpretation and application.

-Liability is a very broad term in the language of law. This is especially true in the context of equine law because “inherent liability” is defined differently by every individual. [Here he pointed out, even by the yuppies who know nothing about horses.]

Now, when you think of liability in the horse sense, does a certain black and white (slightly obnoxious) sign come to mind? I’ll be frank, I’ve read them a thousand times and never really thought a thing of them (other than maybe concluding they must be trendy or something). Alas, that question was answered by Mr. George Johnson… Who just so happened to be the driving force behind those signs!

The first Equine Liability Act was passed in the state of Washington, but unfortunately, held very little ground. Colorado was next in line and passed their act in the early 1990s during a state-wide tort reform. Mr. Johnson said it was difficult convincing the need of the act. The argument that made the instrumental change for the horse industry? That those in the horse industry were unable to secure affordable insurance due to the “high risk” nature of the animals they worked with daily. Politics aside, it would be interesting to see if such an act would pass given the environment surrounding health care now.

CRS 13-21-119 exempts activity sponsors, professionals, or other person/corporations from liability to or death to a participant related to the inherent risks of equine activities. [Oh, and llamas too. Which Mr. Johnson grumbled about.] Six exemptions for coverage exist [paraphrasing legal jargon]: (1) horse racing, (2) knowingly provide faulty equipment or tack that results in injury or death, (3) equine provider fails to make reasonable and prudent efforts of participant’s ability in activity… (essentially individual responsibility, one of the most common areas of litigation and success of litigation), (4) dangerous conditions on equine provider’s property for which warning signs were not posted (ex: electrocution, low hanging wire, prairie dog holes), (5) …disregard for participant’s safety, and (6) intentionally harmful to participant. To be covered as an equine provider, you must have signs (1) posted visibly in areas the equine activity in being conducted, (2) white with 2″ black lettering [you can get those about anywhere, but check your horse council because often those funds go back to the industry directly], and (3) use the same legal wording on all contracts. The Equine Liability Act basically makes it possible for us to safely (in the context of law) own, ride, and be equine professionals. Nearly every state now has some version of an Equine Liability Act (most [proudly!!] modeled after Colorado).

Here’s a quick funny. When Wyoming was adopting their act, the court wasn’t sure if “bucking” was an inherent risk. Mr. Johnson’s reply was, “Look at your license plate lately?” [Steamboat, the famous bucking horse, in case you're curious.]

This is where it gets interesting (and applicable to “Current State of the Horse Industry”). Once an act is passed, it will be tried. Precedence occurs which basically sets the stage as to whether (1) it was a good piece of legislation and (2) if it will have any teeth in its future. Here are a few cases Mr. Johnson shared with us [please excuse the grammar errors, I did my best to phonetically spell out these bad boys]:

Clyncke v. Waneka (2007)

This occurred in Weld County, Colorado [represent!!!... where I'm from, P.S.] during a round-up when Waneka fell off a horse supplied by the Clynckes. She argued the Clynckes were responsible for her injuries because they let her ride in an activity unsuited to her level and provided her with an unmanageable horse. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled the Clynckes were covered by CRS 13-21-119. Waneka appealed and was (again) turned down because no exceptions applied.

B&B Livery vs. Rail

This was an interesting piece of litigation because historically the Colorado Supreme Court hasn’t been much of a fan of releases (because of the ambiguity of them). However, in this case they ruled that because a warning was put into the agreement (CRS 13-21-119) and that there was a clause covering non-inherent risks, the release was not ambiguous and could be upheld. Essentially, this confirmed the validity of equine releases.

Culver vs. Samuels

In this case, the prosecutor was assured that the horse he was given was gentle, but was subsequently bucked off. This all occurred at a calf roping event where no Equine Liability Act signs were visible. They tried to prosecute under the notion that the defendant wasn’t “any other person” [read the act to understand this, but basically it's a clause that covers any horse person]. However, the court decided that the phrase “any other person” makes the act cover, well, “any other person.” Basically, this case made it concrete that individual (not professional) horse owners were covered under the act.

Up until this point, the act really had some teeth! The next case points to a different side of the story…

During a Harmony Horsemanship clinic in Casper, Wyoming, Ms. Kristina Barkhurst (age 21) died. Her parents won $1.2M.

Ms. Barkhurst’s horse apparently had a history of bolting. Ms. Skinner (clinician) had assured her that her natural horsemanship techniques would work and subsequently, the accident happened. The court found Ms. Skinner had failed to provide equipment necessary to control the horse. Interesting because, this “necessary control” equipment could not be defined in court. It may yet be appealed, but this is an example of litigation where the exceptions to the act did in fact apply and so, the equine provider was not covered. It also raises a few interesting questions:

-The growth and abundance of clinicians inherently creates a distribution of legitimate and illegitimate horse professionals. Will this “snake oil” concept (as Mr. Johnson calls it) continue to test (and possibly strain) the validity of the liability acts?

-If you host a clinic with a professional, are you creating unnecessary liability for yourself?

-Is a case like this generating regulation in an otherwise unregulated sector of the equine industry?

It’s important to note here that Mr. Johnson is still very thrilled by how much the act has held up (and will continue to!).

Even though Equine Liability Acts across the nation are making a substantial difference in the lives of horse people, Mr. Johnson still avidly argues that you need to get insurance. Just because this act appears to cover you, if you were brought to court (justly or unjustly), you would still need to secure an attorney. Rates are between $200-400/hour and equine litigation is often long and drawn-out. Most insurance will cover attorney fees. He also advocates you pursue preventative measures, particularly by making sure you thoroughly understand equine law. If you’d like, check out his guide to equine law (book).

Phew!!! Feel like you were sitting in on the 3 hour lecture? Rest assured, every time I see one of those black and white signs, I won’t be taking it for granted any longer. I feel especially grateful to be able to be involved in an industry that so passionately believes in its critters & people and makes it possible for us to make a living from (and enjoy the heck out of!) horses.

Thanks again, Jenn, for letting me share my nerdy school-girl, horse-lovin, bloggin’ side. And, thanks all you horse enthusiasts for reading!

-Meg

http://www.megangrieve.com

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Filed Under: horses, politics, ranching

Life on an Indian Reservation

14 Feb posted by

I’m still in answer mode, so y’all should strike while the iron is hot!

Heather’s first question:

I have read your mentions about the reservation. I have looked up Hope, SD.
Do you actually live ON the Indian Reservation or is it just close by like I saw on the map?
Are the Indian Reservations really as bad off as they are portrayed in the movies?

This is a multi-faceted question Heather, so I’ll do my best to answer it from my perspective.

Catching Rain Drops: Photo by Your Cowgirl

Yes, I live on an Indian Reservation. My future husband known as Zach, My Cowboy, or Mr. Hotness, is a 3rd generation rancher and is a Lakota Sioux Indian. From my perspective, living on a reservation could be compared to life in a 3rd World Country- though I’m fortunate enough to live in a nice house and not struggle on the meager to non-existent income of some. There are many people on the reservation however, that aren’t as fortunate as us. Our particular reservation, The Cheyenne River Sioux, is located in two of the poorest counties in the United States. Dewey and Ziebach counties make up the reservation and are comprised of about 2.8 million acres (though roughly half of  that land is owned by non-Indians- yet more post fodder!). It is roughly the size of Connecticut (some say Rhode Island and Delaware combined). Unemployment hovers between 75-85% in those counties.  Ziebach county has the highest child poverty rate in the United States.

According to the 2000 Census, Ziebach County’s per capita income was $7,463 and the median income for a family was $18,672; 49.9% live below the poverty line.

Dewey County (where we reside) doesn’t fare much better- the per capita income was $9,251 and the median income for a family was $24,971; 33.6% live below the poverty line.

I’m sure that compared to a lot of people on the reservation we seem wealthy and I can tell you, from seeing first hand, that there is plenty of the crab in the bucket syndrome to go around.

There is a total population of about 14,000 +/- on the reservation and not all of them are Indians. I am not, of course. Probably something like 3000-3500 non-Indians live on the reservation- which brings up another subject- the US Government treats the Indians like lesser individuals. Just calling it like I see it. Indians are not allowed to own land in their name- it must be held “in trust” for them, through the US government, because clearly they’re not responsible enough to do the right thing with it.*insert sarcasm here*

I must add, that from my perspective, conditions are worse here for many residents than they would be if they lived in an inner city- because at least in the inner city you are part of a stronger city/state infrastructure, and you’re closer to the general populace.   We are so remote (mind you, I LOVE that part of my life), that people forget we’re there.  The fact that it’s been three weeks since one of the worst storms the state has ever seen left the reservation without water (due to lack of infrastructure and funding), and some places are still without electricity,(there’s even a school that’s closed) and you don’t see this getting any national attention, should be evidence enough of this bias. Short of the article above and Keith Olberman who has called out the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on their apathy toward the situation (video) if you don’t read this blog regularly would you have any idea life has been bad for these people?  You wouldn’t know we have a crisis on our own soil because the media ignores it. Keith’s mention and linking to his website has helped to raise $250,000 for the tribe, as their $175,000 emergency fund has been completely depleted.

Historic Corrals on Hwy 212. Photo by Megan Zeller

Speaking of water infrastructure, until the 40+ year old water system is upgraded, development in the communities on the reservation is at a standstill because the water system cannot hold any more residences.  And clearly, there has been poor planning in the current water system.  According to Indian Housing (via Census Data) 14.7% of reservation residents live in over-crowded conditions compared to 5.7% of the rest of the US.

I have plenty more to say on this subject, and it’s such a great subject, that I will be writing more about it!  Thanks, Heather!  I would love to see if I could cajole Zach or his dad to write more on the specific history of our reservation. His dad is a living history book!

Heather’s second question was: Do you have any other interests other than horses and jewlery?

It might be shorter to write a list of things that don’t interest me! I love art- and enjoy drawing and painting. I also sing, play the piano and the guitar. I love to read and you’ll find me, more often than not, (or when I’m not on a Twitter addiction) with a book in my hand. I’m a television junkie. I actually enjoy running and biking and hiking and snow skiing; any outdoor activity. I love decorating and interior design.

Keep the questions coming folks! This is fun!


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Filed Under: family, life, politics, ranching

The State of the Horse Industry: Part 3

8 Feb posted by

Previously we’ve looked at Arguments 1 and 2, in favor of closing the horse processing facilities.  And if you missed the introduction, or the post that defined animal rights vs. animal welfare, you might want to catch up before reading this one!

Today we’ll tackle Argument 3 (from this report)- that horse owners will do the responsible thing.  As we’ve already learned- the majority of horse owners make between $25 and $75k per year.  The average cost to keep a horse yearly is between $2500-5000 per horse (with vet care).  This is based on numbers I’ve read around the country, and my own math from what I did when I was training 5+ horses per month for others (note- I was keeping horses in town- not turned out on the range)- bringing the total amount of horses I fed/maintained yearly to about 9-10 horses per month. Do the math.

Argument 3. Horse owners will be responsible and take care of their horses so a ban on slaughter will not result in horses not being cared for.


Horse ownership has many different interpretations and levels of commitment. While many horse owners take very good care of their horses this does not hold true for everyone. While neglect may not be intentional in some instances, it happens. Educating owners to proper nutrition, dental and hoof care, can make big changes to the horse’s management.

Reports of horses being abandoned are on the increase (Associated Press, 2007). Reported through the Brownfield Ag News for American, “Closing horse processing plants in the United States has led to increased abandonment and neglect of horses in this country and the inhumane death of horses across the border” (Young, 2007).  A Georgia Tifton Gazette article indicates rising neglect is evident across the state due to many factors, one of which is the closing of the slaughter houses (Cone, 2007). In Utah’s Department of Agriculture and Food, Terry Menlove, Director of the Division of Animal Industry, reports a larger number than usual of abandoned horses. Because of a lack of places to send older horses, some owners are keeping these horses and the horses starve to death in the field (T. Menlove, personal communication, January 2, 2008). Reported inthe Drovers Alert “the number of owners charged with animal cruelty due to neglected horses is on the rise as the price of horse ownership increases. So, the fallout from the closure of the slaughter facilities: More horse are suffering from starvation and neglect” (Henderson, 2008). The Wall Street Journal cites “the number of horses whose owners won’t or can’t properly care for them is mushrooming” (Prada, 2008). C.J. Hadley, publisher of the magazine called Range, indicated that “animal lovers with big hearts and no idea what’s required to take care of a horse have shut down slaughterhouses that were needed” (Prada, 2008).

If you haven’t witnessed the cruelty known as Mother Nature, and you’re still in favor of keeping closed the slaughter facilities, because you LOVE horses, I recommend you reconsider.  Seeing an old horse die of starvation, colic, or  by freezing to death, etc. is one of the saddest things you’ll ever witness. Bottom line- my horse. My property. I have said it before and I’ll say it again- If I choose to pay a vet to euthanize it for me, so be it. If I choose to send it to the kill plant, so be it.  If someone can’t afford to feed their horse, how can they afford to pay a vet to put it down?  We’ve even discussed the fact that you can’t hardly give a horse away right now.  Since most of  the rescues are full (that is a discussion for another day) I ask you, “what on God’s green earth are they supposed to do with their horse?”  Please note,  I do not advocate cruelty and I certainly don’t like to read stories like the one below:

HSUS offers reward in case of abandoned horses

by Associated Press

Posted on November 21, 2009 at 1:37 PM

******

TACOMA, Wash. – The case of five emaciated horses found abandoned in a Pierce County forest has prompted the Humane Society of the United States to offer a $2,500 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions.

In a statement, the animal welfare organization says it appears the animals were afraid to leave the area where they had been dropped off, and could have been stranded as long as two weeks.

It said the horses discovered Nov. 12 on a logging road near Elbe were cold, hurt and “horribly malnourished.”

The HSUS says two of the horses are about 15 years old; another is suspected to be pregnant and a fifth was euthanized.

The group’s Washington state director, Dan Paul, says struggling horse owners can turn to rescue groups, online adoption programs or even humane euthanasia.

Abandoning animals in Washington is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum 90 days in jail and $1,000 fine.

Pierce County Animal Control is investigating.

Stories like the above are becoming all too common since the closing of horse processing facilities in the US in 2007. As has been discussed here recently, HSUS doesn’t run a single shelter or even help the animals that it “rescues”.

What many of you who, haven’t had the opportunity to see horses in the natural environments, don’t realize is that horses that have lived in a stall, or small acreage all their whole lives, really don’t know how to be a horse, like the horses we have on our ranch. Or like the horses that run wild through the deserts of Nevada, or other parts of the west. They don’t understand how to forage. How to range, or even how to drink. You think to yourself, oh, that should come naturally to the horse, but it doesn’t if they’ve been in a small acreage, or even a barn where there has been food and water in front of them 24/7.  They really don’t know how to go to water once a day and drink; then travel back out several miles to graze. Horses on the range do that daily.

Horses on the range also know how to get along with and read other horses. Horses kept in captivity tend to be more aggressive and mis-read the signs that ferrel horses will give them, such as “get out of my space”. It’s not unusual for a horse previously kept in captivity and then turned out with range horses to end up getting a severe beating, in part due to the fact that they aren’t as fluent at speaking horse as a range horse. They’re also not nearly in the same physical shape as range horses. Trust me. I rode my gray mare, Nora, daily, but when it came time to turn her out with horses twice her age, she couldn’t keep up. It’s like the person that runs on the treadmill vs. the one that runs XC. They’re not even in the same league.

This above story is, I believe,  the direct result of the closing of  US horse processing facilities. The HSUS/ASPCA and PETA took away that option and that part of the market. Why are groups like these not more concerned with the life of the horse while it is alive?  Why are they so concerned with what happens to it at death? We can’t crawl into a horse’s skin, so who are we to say that a captive bolt is any less disturbing to them, than the drug that is given to *humanely* euthanize them?  And why, if these groups, are so concerned with keeping horses from being processed are they not spending a good portion of their war-chest helping struggling horse owners, and rescue groups with things like feed costs, gelding colts, and euthanization? Why do they not run a single rescue group? I ask you, “What really then, is their agenda?”

It really boils down to them putting their money where their mouth is, and as several commenters have previously pointed out- and as we discussed here- these animal rights groups want the extinction of all domesticated animals. They’re on record as saying that. Why would we not believe them?  They spend their money to lobby congress and keep the public perception on their side. They don’t spend their money saving animals.  And those of us that do love our animals, well, we spend our money to keep those animals healthy.

That said, though, we are going to have to do something other than opine about it. Maybe it means getting on the phone with AQHA and urge them lobby for us (which I am told they do). Maybe it means getting on the horn to the local extension agents when we see neglect cases; maybe it means we give any extra money we have to groups like the United Organization of the Horse which is working fervently to bring back “humane” processing in this country. Whatever it means, we better figure it out soon.

As always, comments and discussion are welcome. But don’t troll me, and don’t be ugly. I’m all about discussion if you can refrain from name calling.

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Filed Under: horse slaughter, horses, peta, politics, ranching

The State of the Horse Industry: Part 2

2 Feb posted by

This is the second part in our series about the horse industry, so if you missed the introduction or part one, you might want to read those first. I also want to take this moment to make the distinction between “animal rights” and “animal welfare”. I am, as I said earlier this week,  pro-animal welfare.  I want animals to be treated, as good as we can treat, them without raising them to “human” status, while they are alive and living on this earth.

Gump's Niece, currently unnamed, hanging with the nanny goat

Gump's Niece, currently unnamed, hanging with the nanny goat

We’re still going through the Utah State University Paper that was written on the current state of the industry, and then we’ll talk about the other things that will and have come up for discussion.

To refresh our memories- Argument 1 against horse processing is that we as Americans shouldn’t participate in such a cruel, inhumane act.

Before we get too involved in looking at the second argument, it might be best to read this number first: 4.7 million.

That is the number of horses, according to Wikipedia, that the top 8 horse-meat consuming countries eat yearly.  As has been mentioned, roughly 100,000 horses of the estimated 9.2 million that live in this country go to slaughter yearly.  I have read numbers as high as 150,000. Even at 150,000 we are only providing about 3% of the horse meat that the world consumes.  Unless my math is wrong. And frankly, that was never my strong suite!

Argument 2. The United States should not provide horse meat to satisfy the needs of other countries when Americans do not eat horse meat.

The American Horse Defense Fund , which is a fervent supporter of bills now in the United States Congress that would ban slaughtering horse for meat, declared that “foreign-owned slaughter industry need to understand that Americans will never view horse as dinner.” It’s a ringing statement, but “it’s not an entirely accurate one” (Weil, 2007).

Americans have eaten horse meat at different periods of our history, for example during WWII and post war years (Weil, 2007). Beef and pork were scarce or costly so horse meat appeared or was readily available in butcher shops. In 1951, in Portland, Oregon, horsemeat became an important item on dinner tables with three times as many horse butchers selling three times as much meat. Also, in 1973 with meat prices soaring, a butcher shop in Connecticut converted to horse meat selling 6,000 lbs a day. Into the late 1970s, the Harvard Faculty Club served horse steaks as a regular menu item, only abandoned due to rerouting of traffic flow causing delivering problems (Weil, 2007).*

The United States has been providing horse meat to many different countries for decades. Before 1979 horses were shipped live on boats to Europe, but due to transport concerns and high mortality, this international transport for processing was prohibited (Stull, 2001). The harvesting plants opened in the United States to process animals in country and ship the meat overseas. Four ounces of horse meat contains 20% greater protein than beef (sirloin) with 25% less fat, nearly 20% less sodium, double the iron and 1 mg less cholesterol. Compared to ground beef, horse meat has 55% more protein, 25% less fat, 30% less cholesterol, and 27% less sodium. For many less developed countries and with the BSE problems in beef, horse meat is a better dietary substitute (Ahern et al., 2006). As stated above the groups supporting this ban indicate that the U.S. should not provide meat to other countries that we do not ourselves consume, but the United States harvesting plants provide products from sheep and beef carcasses which are not eaten by Americans and considered delicacies in foreign markets.

All that being said, I don’t know that I’d eat horse for dinner, but if that was all I had, and I were hungry enough I would certainly consider it.  It may not be something we see as acceptable in our culture, NOW, but there are other cultures that view it as perfectly acceptable (In Sweden, it outsells mutton and lamb combined. Italy consumes more horse meat than any other country in the European Community), and I’m not going to tell them how and what they can eat.  Currently there are only 5 states in which it is illegal to consume horse meat: California, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. .If you’re not new to this blog you know that I’m not in favor of vegans/vegetarians telling me how to eat, just as I don’t tell them they should eat meat. And, seriously, who doesn’t love a good steak?

It seems to me, however as a result of the plant closings in 2007 that a few things have happened.

1. We haven’t stopped a single horse from going to slaughter. What we’ve done is give them a longer ride to the processing facility because now they’re going to either Mexico or Canada.  And that longer ride creates additional stress and undue turmoil on them. That’s “humane”, right?  That is a fact and it cannot be denied. No longer can the rancher/farmer/individual, take their own horse to the local sale, spend a few moments with it to say goodbye. Now it has to go 2000 miles or more (if they’re from SD going to Mexico) which is a 3-4 day trailer ride at best.  Used to be it was a day to Illinois.

2. By taking away the rendering plants, sometimes we are prolonging the life of animals that would have been previously sent to those  facilities.  That’s not always a good thing.  As a couple commenters in the previous post pointed out- we should really be more concerned with the horse while it’s alive- this goes back to being PRO-ANIMAL Welfare.  By taking away the option of rendering, we have given owners in a financial bind less options.  We will discuss this later in a separate post.

3. There has now been created a black market for horse meat. In Florida, more specifically Miami- Dade and surrounding counties, where a large population of immigrants reside, I see and hear news story, after news story, after news story, of horse owners who find their *pets* (honestly, I believe that horses are not pets, but livestock; they are too big, powerful and can be danterous- check back later today on my story from yesterday!) rendered in their stalls or pastures.  Horrifying to say the least.  Horses are eaten in many third world countries and even some developed nations such as Japan (where they serve it like sushi). Horse meat is also considered to have healing properties (some Latin cultures believe the meat can cure AIDS) and can be used to remove evil sprits, or be given as a sacrifice if you practice Santeria. There were no stories, such as the above, that I can find prior to the closing of  the US processing facilities. If you know of some, please do, share.

I think we can take many things from this; but I’d like to point out that in the first installment, several of my commenter’s got it right.  And I think that we’ll discuss their comments at another time.

I’m hoping to have a guest poster this week, who’ll talk about the food chain, and how HSUS et al is affecting it. Stay tuned!

And as always, if you can’t be nice, don’t bother.

11 Comments
Filed Under: horse slaughter, horses, peta, politics, ranching

The State of the Horse Industry: A Series

24 Jan posted by
Some 2009 Foals

Some 2009 Foals

I have decided to do a weekly, to bi-weekly post, at least until I feel like I’ve exhausted my resources, on the current state of the Horse Industry. As an industry professional, I think it’s important that public become educated on policies that they have helped perpetuate either directly or indirectly. Maybe you’re not in the horse industry and find that these policies don’t directly affect you; however, I hope you’d take from this  that the same groups that are responsible for making changes in the Horse Industry (HSUS and PETA) are the same groups that could make owning pets for the rest of you more difficult or costly; they’re often the same groups that can cause an increase in prices in the cost of agricultural goods and services. I hope to show the correlation through these series of posts.

Before we get too involved, I’d like to run through some numbers. In 2005 the American Horse council did a study on the Industry.  The numbers are big, interesting, and are the best place to start this conversation.

You can buy the study in its entirety here but we’ll highlight most of the relevant points:

  • There are 9.2 million horses in the United States.
  • 4.6 millions Americans are involved in the industry as horse owners, service providers, employees and volunteers.  Tens of millions more participate as spectators.
  • 2 million people own horses.
  • The horse industry has a direct economic effect on the US of $39 billion annually.
  • The industry has a $102 billion impact on the US economy when the mulitplier effect of spending by industry suppliers and employees is taken into account.  Including off-site spending of spectators would result in an even higher figure.
  • The industry directly provides 460,000 full- time equivalent (FTE) jobs. (And as someone who has made a living working in the industry I can tell you, that there is no 40 hour work week- to do it right you plan to work 60-80 hours a week. That includes help, not just the trainers).
  • Spending by suppliers and employees generates additional jobs for a total employment impact of 1.4 million FTE jobs.
  • The horse industry pays $1.9 billion in taxes to all levels of government.
  • Approximately 34% of horse owners have a household income of less than $50,000 and
  • 28% have an annual income of over $100,000. 46% of horse owners have an income of between $25,000 to $75,000.
  • Over 70% of horse owners live in communities of 50,000 or less.
  • There are horses in every state. Forty-five states have at least 20,000 horses each.

Of the 9.2 million horses used in the United States the numbers are as follows:

  • Racing- 844,531
  • Showing- 2,718,954
  • Recreation- 3,906,923
  • Other- 1,752,439

“Other” includes farm and ranch work, rodeo, carriage horses, polo, police work, informal competitions, etc.

The economic impact of the industry is huge:

The study documents the economic impact of the industry in terms of jobs and contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is greater than the motion picture services, railroad transportation, and some types of manufacturing. It is only slightly smaller than the apparel and other textile manufacturing industries.

The study’s results show that the industry directly produces goods and services of $38.8 billion and has a total impact of $101.5 billion on US GDP.

It is strong in each activity with racing, showing and recreation each contributing between $10.5 and $12 billion to the total value of goods and services produced by the industry.

Now that we have some idea how big the industry is we’ll be better ready to delve into the subject later this week. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments section and I’ll compile a list of them to answer as need be.


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Filed Under: horses, peta, politics, ranching

Spinning in Opinions

20 Jan posted by

fall shots 026I’m a horseman. A dog and cat owner. A rancher’s girlfriend. A lover and eater of beef. All of those things that I just listed are choices I make. And last I checked I’m free to make those choices. I’m not breaking any laws by doing so. This week’s spin is on opinions, and while I’m giving you mine, I’m going to point out that some people go too far with theirs.

It seems lately, that my way of life is under attack from vegans. And not only vegans, but those proponents of PETA, and HSUS (aka the Humane Society of the United States- more on them to come- in the form of another post); in other words, animal-rights’ activists that claim that me wearing fur (which I do) or me eating meat is murder. That our *factory* farming/ranching practices are morally wrong.

HSUS is on record as saying that they’d be fine with the extinction of all animals bred for domestic use (read through that page to the bottom- it’s too good to pass up). They’d relish a totally vegan society (no pun intended. Okay. Maybe there was!). I also find that often times, these same people vote for politicians that preach tolerance. But they’re only tolerant if you agree with them.  The center for consumer Freedom has numerous articles and journalist’s reports of the HSUS not caring for animals that it rescues.  That’s real humane. But that’s not their point. They’re not really concerned for the well-being of animals. It’s a ploy. I promise.  If you do your research you’ll find that only a  tiny portion of their budgets goes to actually helping animals.

You see, the thing is, I don’t tell a vegan he/she/they should eat meat; just like I don’t tell Jen, the (Sprite’s) keeper of the Spin Cyle, that she should eat pork. If someone wants to be a vegan, more power to them; but many vegans/animal right’s activists do everything in their power legally, and sometimes illegally, to change the face of agriculture,  ranching, or animal husbandry, in order to force their way of life on us.  And frankly, I don’t roll that way.

One of the things they do to mislead the public (most people living in the city are 3 generations removed from the farm) is tell y’all that corporate farmers and ranchers mistreat their animals. The fact is that98% of the farms and ranches owned in this country are run by families. Zach is a 3rd generation rancher. I have friends on twitter that are 4th and 5th generation ranchers.  Do those of you reading this, really believe that by mistreating animals on the family owned/operated farm/ranch that we and other farmers and ranchers would be able to make our livings?

The fact of the matter is that we are very concerned about the welfare of our animals.  Rain or shine; hot, cold or snow storm, there are animals to be taken care of.  In the winter, regardless of what the weather is doing, there is hay and cake to be fed and water to be opened because we need our animals healthy.  Wholly the idea behind animal welfare pre-supposes that animals left to the their own accord, without cruelty from people (hunting) or mankind’s intervention (farmer/ranching), are better off. But these people who believe that have more than likely never seen what a cruel, cruel bitch Mother Nature can be.  They’ve never seen an animal die from disease or sickness or from freezing to death, or starving to death in some cases. They’ve not seen the coyotes feasting on the dying carcass.  Animals on our place, are rarely left for mother nature to levy her wrath upon.

And if they, these people who put animals above humans, have seen the above, how do they, in their right mind justify that animal suffering at their death, rather than to be put out of its distress qiuckly, painlessly? I’d bet, all of us, if faced with a long, painful death, or quick instant death would choose instant death. And if you wouldn’t, I believe you to be mentally ill.

I am ridiculously tired of the “I’m right, you’re wrong” attitudes of these groups.  The same groups that use false advertising, that claim to help animals,  yet only serve to further confuse the public and create more legislation. Groups that feign concern over animals; groups that personify animals. I love my horses as much as anyone, but they’re not a human despite what many people want to believe; even I catch myself personifying my horse, dogs, and cats.

True tolerance isn’t forcing me to live like you live. It’s understanding that we’re different. That we want different things. That we will make different choices.  That we have different goals and often different world-views.  It’s not calling names when you disagree with someone.

Be a vegetarian if you want. Be a vegan if you want.  But  don’t try to take away my beef!

For more spins visit Jen at Sprite’s Keeper.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Ps. Jen I really wasn’t picking on you. You know I love you!

17 Comments
Filed Under: horses, life, peta, politics, ranching

Random: The Weekend in Review

2 Mar posted by

It’s really been kind of a crazy weekend. Simply by chance, and not by any doing of our own choice, really.

If you’ll recall, I said last week the weather was turning bad. Thursday brought snow and cold. Friday was more of the same – only it snowed ALL day and we now have 8-12 inches of snow on the ground. It was around a negative 2 for the high on Friday. This snow and weather are making getting horses rode, challenging. To say the least. Today it’s not supposed to be much better- a high of 28 with wind chills in the -15 range. Joy joy.

That morning we found out that Zach had a death in the extended family (his cousin). He’d just gotten out of the hospital the week before and while everyone knew he was dying, the family had gone off, back to their respective homes and jobs- as he had pulled through, and has done so before. One of his daughters, Stephanie, lives in Hawaii and is a flight attendant. She and Zach are close so we got that call from her on Friday. She was in Japan on a flight and was heading back. We offered to pick her up at the airport if need be.

Saturday she calls and needs us to get her in Pierre at the airport. So Zach, his younger brother Guthrie (ok, so all his brothers are younger than him) and myself load up to get her. We get about four miles away from Pierre and the car breaks down. I’m pretty proud of me for not freaking out seeing as how it was only 13 degrees outside, and we couldn’t run the heater. Steph’s plane had come in early, at 2pm. By this time it was 2:30. She had to call another relative in town and get them to bring her to us to pick us up and take us to the Pub down the road. In the meantime, Zach called AAA to get a tow truck, and then called his youngest brother, Bud, to come pick us up at the Pub down the street. I of course, had run off to town without either one of my cell phones (though I did bring a book to read). And I’m starving. We were planning on getting Steph and eating in town.

Lucky for us, at the time the tow truck arrived, so did Steph and her cousin, Sis. We were taken back north, the car was taken south to the Ford House, and the Pub had a special on Prime Rib Sandwiches. Oh, and beer. So the four of us, ordered a round, ordered some food and waited on Bud to get there.

When we finished eating, we headed north, to take Steph to her Dad’s house (which I suppose is now technically hers). All of her siblings were there (the four of them- I have met two of them prior) and her mom (who I’ve met) and the grandkids. We spent the rest of the evening on their ranch- and left about 11 to come back to the ranch. While we we there, Bud fell down a hole (into the crawl space of Steph’s older brother’s house), because he thought there were stairs to climb up (we’re all still laughing about this), and Guthrie got beat in ping pong by a 12 year old.

Admittedly I was in a funk when we got back to our house. I was tired, hungry and really homesick. Something about the fact that Zach has his family and his friends around, and that I was surrounded by people that I do not know, who are not my friends, or family just really got to me. I feel like I never know what to say or how to act in those situations. As if the family isn’t really interested in support or the care of a stranger. For the record, I didn’t feel unwelcome. It was totally the opposite.

This created a crappy Sunday morning for both of us, as I sat on the couch and cried for a couple hours. I’ve been here 8 months, and have ZERO friends outside his family. The only people in his family that even have my cell phone number are Bud’s wife and his neice Shari. I suppose I could reach out to Shari since I never see her. I do see Kirsten since she and Bud live at Granny’s while their house is being built. It’s hard here, though, to get together and do things. It’s not like you’re all 15 miles fom the local TGIFriday and you can get together and have happy hour. I think I also feel like I have to censor myself, and I’ve felt like that for a while. Like I can’t really be myself. Like I can’t speak my mind for fear of some smart comment coming from his brothers (that I may or may not know how to take) or fear of some sort of political backlash from all of them, since they lean left and I’m so not going that direction. I’ve been worried about being politically correct. I so want people to like me and I don’t want to argue with them, so I just shut my mouth. I don’t feel smart enough to discuss things. Maybe that stems from a time in my past when I was told that everything I thought was wrong. Maybe that’s why I have no confidence. Maybe I really should just keep my thoughts to myself.

Now that I’ve depressed all of you with my self loathing, here’s something happy. Zach got the cabinet/bench/coat rack that we put in the laundry room finished. I have photos, but I’m going to post them later. I also have photos of the snow, and our cat, Turtle, who is covered in snow.
I’ll try to get those up later today.

5 Comments
Filed Under: life, politics, winter weather

Spinning in Political Change

27 Feb posted by

Forget for a moment that you’re a democrat, republican, independent, moderate, or libertarian.
Forget for a moment that you’re either a liberal or a conservative; a social liberal a fiscal conservative or a social conservative and fiscal liberal or any other combination.
Forget. For. A. Moment.

Think about how you live your life on a daily basis.
Think about how you make choices. Do you consider the consequences of said choices before deciding?
Think about if you try to balance your checkbook, pay your bills on time, or make sacrifices based on your income, the costs of goods and services and your priorities.
Think about (if you have kids) how you’re teaching them to think and behave. Are they allowed to throw tantrums, bite, kick, talk back, be ugly to classmates, or not do their homework without consequences?
Think about times when, or if you’ve failed as a result of a bad choice. Would you make that same choice again? Do you come back stronger for it?

Is there good and bad? Black and white? Wrongs and rights?

Could we all agree that murder is wrong?
That rape is wrong?
That stealing is wrong?
That guns don’t kill people, people kill people?
That what is good for the goose isn’t good for the gander?

Wait, did I get you on that one?

Right now we’ve got politicians flitting around in private jets while bitching about auto executives doing it – when at this point BOTH happen at the taxpayer expense.

We’ve got politicians flitting around in private jets, traveling in big entourages of SUVs, living in huge houses, while preaching to the rest of us to go green, and sacrifice and to stop driving our “evil”, polluting SUVs.

We’ve got private corporations, that must answer to stockholders, asking for government handouts because they can’t manage their money; and we have a government that gives it to them.

We’ve got members of the President’s Cabinet, and God only knows how many other politicians are tax evaders; yet we’re told it’s our patriotic duty to pay taxes and make sacrifices in these hard times. We are told we need to raise taxes on the rich but when you “Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are available and a good year for the economy and ‘the wealthiest 2%.’ Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That’s about 7% of all returns; the data aren’t broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% — about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 — paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income.” How much more can you raise taxes on them, before they may say, FUCK THIS. I’m done making as much or any money. And then what do you do? Are we going to be owned by China?

We’ve got people that don’t understand the difference between wealth and income. I don’t have a lot of income, but I consider myself wealthy. And you can be wealthy (monetarily) without income. In that case you’re probably a blue blood. Or you have a trust fund. I’d like to know what is so wrong about an honest days work, and being successful and making as much as you can to better your life and the lives of your family?

We’ve got people in a state of mind, that think the government could and should provide for them, and that they’re entitled to said provisions (Native Americans excluded), but these people have forgotten that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The money given to them must come from someone, somewhere. It comes from people that make enough to pay taxes; from cap and trade legislation. From gas taxes, etc.

When President Bush was in office, dissent was Patriotic. But now that we have a black president dissent means you’re a racist. I’m not a racist. I could care less what color the president is. They could be purple polka-dotted and it wouldn’t matter to me. But I thought free speech and dissent were what made this country great? Or is that only if you’re not a republican/conservative? What about the first amendment? Or is the Constitution simply being ignored?

We’re in a war and Obama’s budget only gives military personal a 2.9% pay increase, which isn’t even in line with COLA (cost of living adjustments) yet provides an 18% pay increase to District of Columbia Foreign Service Officers.

Citibank got a taxpayer bailout, and yet their plans to go through with naming of the new Mets Stadium to the tune of 400M aren’t being postponed or cancelled.

When the world stops this crazy double standard; when it’s not all upside down, backwards and sideways; when politicians begin to practice what they preach, well then that will be CHANGE I can believe in.

10 Comments
Filed Under: politics, the spin cycle

This is a Public Service Announcement

19 Feb posted by

On February 17th, this blog had over 4,000 visitors. FOUR THOUSAND! Yesterday it was close to 3,000. What did I write about that created that much buzz? Not that I’m complaining. I’m just wondering what people found interesting? I mean deep down, I totally long to have a blog as popular as say, oh, the Pioneer Woman. But she’s actually way funnier than I am, and takes way better photos, so I’m not sure what the draw is here.

Let’s count the similarities between the blogs:

We both live on a ranch.
We have lots of horses (for different purposes of course- because we don’t run mustangs).
We raise beef (but to a smaller size/weight than they do).

(does anyone else hear crickets chirping, or are those only in my head?)

I am going to have to go back and see what it was exactly that I wrote about that day.

Also I’m thinking of doing a slight format change. Does this blog even have a format?

Typically I’m doing the Spin Cycle on Fridays (because I enjoy procrastinating, and it’s never due until Friday!) but I’m thinking of starting Random News Wednesday. It might be random news from my life, or several snippets of news stories I find interesting. I enjoy politics, but based on the comments (or lack thereof) from my readers I’m not altogether sure you guys do- or if you care- or if you want my two cents. But sometimes things in politics are just random and stupid and make no common sense. Sometimes things in life are just random. Sooo, I’m considering, taking one day a week, to blog about craziness in life, politics, money, etc. And that way, if you hate those subjects you can just avoid my blog altogether on those days. Though I’m known to double post, or even, triple post so I don’t know if that will work. I am totally off subject now. See- this is what happens when you don’t have coffee before you blog! I’d love to hear from you- the readers on this subject. And please tell me if you can, what created all the buzz on the 17th!

7 Comments
Filed Under: politics

More on the Stimulus

12 Feb posted by

This is an interesting perspective on the current state of the economy. I really sometimes wonder if I should not have an economics degree instead of a marketing degree. Economics fascinates me (and in college I was good at it). Maybe that is why I pay attention and/or get so worked up about these things. Either way, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to hear what this guy has to say.

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Filed Under: politics
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