Horse Fun Facts and Trivia
By: Glen Crofford

Westernaires is about three things. Fun, Learning and Safety. This year has been filled with negative, UNFUN things, SO It's time for ….

Fun Facts and Trivia

The 1998 Red Team
Number of Riders 29
Average Age 17
Total years of experience With horses 295
Average years of Experience per rider 10.17

Best guess is that there are very few PROFESSIONAL RODEO ACTS with that much experience! This is one reason why Red Team is The Best!

At last count, there were 6,931,320 horses in the United States
2,970,000 used for recreational riding
725,000 used for racing and racehorse breeding
1,262,000 used for farm/ranch work, police work, rodeo, polo
1,974,000 used for showing
320 used for Westernaires (210 owners, 110 rentals)

The states with the most horses are:

• 1. California, 2. New York, 3. Texas, 4. Colorado with an estimated 200,320 horses
• One of every eight people in Colorado is involved with horses
• 941,000 people participate in horse racing
• 3.6 million participate in showing
• 4.3 million participate in recreational riding
• The median income for horse-owning household is $60,000
• The median income for all US households is $36,000
• Yearly cost for owning a horse is $1,000 - $15,000
• The horse industry directly provides 338,500 full time jobs and total employment impact is approximately 1.4 million jobs!
• There are 3926 horse veterinarians in the US. Colorado has the third most with 156. California has 445 and Kentucky 203. The least is Alaska with 2.
• Average cost of boarding a horse is $150 - $250 per month
• The average farrier fee is $48 - $75 per shoeing
• Cost to transport a horse to and from an event is 35 to 60 cents per mile
• Riding lessons range from $20 - $50 per hour