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No matter how you ride, whether it is western, dressage,
hunt seat, saddle seat or vault. Whatever your involvement
with horses whether it is breeding, racing, rodeo, hunting,
event or hack. All individuals in these areas have an
interest in horses and their well being. The horse supply
industry and the riding public can often work together
through the horse councils.
Horses are a major industry in every single state and as a
result deserve respect and attention is the main point that
the councils often stress to lawmakers and the public. The
national lobbying group in Washington D.C. is the American
Horse Council. Recently they conducted a study that involved
5.25 million economically productive equines in the United
States. The agricultural sector of the U.S. Gross National
Product gains $15.2 billion from horse people through the
purchase of horses, feed, tack and other products.
State horse councils have also gone beyond economics to help
bring people together in an effort to protect horses and the
ways of life that people can enjoy horses. There are
important issues common to all horse people regardless of
which discipline individual prefer or enjoy. The most
effective horse councils go beyond breed politics and focus
on the needs of the entire horse industry with a clear and
unified voice. Equine liability, riding areas, zoning laws
and equine welfare are all issues affecting horses and horse
owners in both state and local legislation. Transportation
of horses in and out of state and sales tax issues are other
areas that affect both hobbyist and business owners.
Equine health-related issues are also covered by the state
councils including issues such as the Coggins Test
requirements. Researching support of the horse industry is
also advocated by the horse councils. An important issue for
horse owners and the entire tourism industry is the
promotion of recreational trails.
There has been success recently by several state horse
councils by having a law passed for equine liability with
allows horse owners to have a waiver so they won’t be
responsible if careless riders are hurt through not fault of
the horse owner or the farm. Truckloads of feed, hay and
cash donations for Florida horse owners after Hurricane
Andrew have also been coordinated by horse councils in many
states.
An important question for horse owners to ask themselves is
whether or not the state would be able to efficiently,
effectively and positively influence decision makers to
support a favorable position on issues that were going to
affect horses. Could the breed association, sporting
discipline, or other horse association respond on their own?
Often times the answer to this question is no, but
occasionally there is a yes.
However, you don’t want to wait until an issue arises and
find out you don’t have time to respond. In every state
there are individuals who are involved in horse councils and
many of these individuals are honest, hard-working,
enthusiastic, dedicated, informed, active, organized and
supportive.
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