1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 January Voice RS | Page 30

Norris Foundation Reports
On Horse Population
The horse has returned to the
American scene, not on the farm, but
in the suburbs.
Economically the horse is worth
more today than it was when it pro­
vided the country with power and
transportation.
The horse appeared to decline un­
til about 1959 when the U. S. De­
partment of Agriculture showed an
equine population of 2.955,256, so
low the Department decided it would
no longer count them.
Today the Morris Animal Founda­
tion of Denver estimates there are
between six and seven million horses
in the country, an increase attributed
to the interest in the horse and a
pleasure animal.
In 1959 when the U. S. Depart­
ment of Agriculture made its official
count, the Arabian Registry in Chi­
cago reported registering 1.596 Ara­
bians that year. In 1966 that num­
ber had climbed to 5.340 a year.
The Appaloosa increased even
faster. In 1959 the Appaloosa Horse
Club of Moscow, Idaho, registered
2.780 a year and last year regis­
tered 12,700.
All in all, the pleasure horse breeds
which included the Albinos, Paints,
Shetland
Ponies,
Standdrdbreds,
Welsh, Hackney, Pony of America,
Thoroughbreds, Morgans, American
Saddle Bred, Tennessee Walking and
Palominos registered more than a
million horses, which indicates the
actual count may well be up to six
million as most of the backyard pets
are never registered.
In 1959 the American Quarter
Horse Association in Amarillo re­
ported a total 161,542 horses regis­
tered. By the end of 1966 that breed’s
total registration had climbed to
444,721.
Ward Howland, registrar for the
Arabian Horse Club Registry, Chi­
cago, said that breed has grown by
15% a year for the past seven years.
He transfers records of 20 horses a
day, indicating a great many indi­
vidual buyers. “Mamma gets a horse,
then the kids want one, and finally
Poppa has to get one to ride along,”
said Howland.
Half of the Arabians in the coun­
try are in the west, Howland said,
with California and Arizona having
the most.
The Quarter Horse, perhaps the
most popular of the pleasure horses,
is strong in Texas with 22% of the
registrations coming from that state.
“Pleasure and recreation are the
big factors in the purchases, said
Howard Linger, executive secretary
of the American Quarter Horse As­
sociation, in Amarillo, Texas.
The Appaloosa has enjoyed the
most rapid growth in recent years,
receiving a good boost with the re­
lease of the movie, “Run Appaloosa
Run..” George Hadley, at the head­
quarters of the Appaloosa Horse
Club in Moscow, Idaho, said the
breed which formerly was concen­
trated in the Northwest has spread
throughout the country.
Another indication of the growth
of the horse industry into the sub­
urbs is that 10 years ago you could
hardly find a “horse” doctor except
at race tracks among the country’s
veterinarians. Today there are more
than 1,000 highly sophisticated mem­
bers of the American Association of
Equine Practioners who have their
own publication, conduct an annual
conference to exchange information
and techniques and generally work
to uplift the specialty.
There are about 50 different maga­
zines devoted to the horse bearing
such names as the “Backstretch,”
“Hackamore,” “Hoof Beats,” “Horse-
trader," “Lariat,” “Spur,” and other
less horsey names.
The American Horse Shows As­
sociation, 527 Madison Avenue, New
York City, lists 60 affiliated associa­
tions, mostly breed clubs. Its 1967
roster of judges, stewards and techni­
cal delegates number 1,584. It ap­
proved 750 horse shows for 1967.
Horses are not the cheapest hob-
t>y. In addition to the initial cost
there s the upkeep with the average
horse owner expending S72 a yeir
or vitamins and minerals (if it’s a
sTgn 0Otherhat f'igUre increases to
,l v h
year'y costs for lceep-
eed3 $275e T* ™n t0 as ™ch a£
$100:
- SSTSS
the horse $150.
New Mexico, admittedly a “Hor­
sey” state, has an investment of
$68,000,000 in horses and horse
barns. Another $8,000,000 is spent
for salaries, feed and veterinary costs,
........- — - *—ims Deen around
a long time, man has done little to
learn about him physiologically and
how to properly care for him.
search and knowledge is far behind
that of cattle, sheep, swine, dogs or
cats. A symptom of the need f0r
more knowledge is the fact that it
takes an average of two brood mares
to produce one foal, compared to
nearly 100% production in cattle
and sheep. Brood mares produce an
average of seven foals in a lifetime,
compared to a capacity of twice that
number. The average stallion sires
seven foals a year, compared to a
potential of 50.
Many of the leaders and breed
groups are turning toward research
The American Quarter Horse Asso­
ciation and the Arabian Horse Club
Registry, for instance, are working
with the Morris Animal Foundation
in sponsoring research into diseases
and nutrition for horses.
A study at Theracon, Inc., Labora­
tories at Topeka, Kansas, has re­
sulted in determining the basic nu­
tritive requirements of the horse,
which were unknown until a couple
years ago. Nutrition investigations
at Theracon have raised the doubt
as to the need of certain vitamin
supplements in horses.
The Morris Animal Foundation,
which also sponsors research at vet­
erinary colleges into diseases of dogs,
cats and wildlife, has sponsored pro­
jects at Colorado State, Cornell Uni­
versity and the University of Cali­
fornia into other diseases of horses.
C. A. B0B0 and
SON STABLES
SHELBYYILLE, TENNESSEE
PHONE: [phone]
FOR SALE
PLEASURE HORSE BY
MIDNIGHT SOUTHERN AIRE
30
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Hor?