Colorado Horse Group
Plans Aerial Survey

DENVER —(AP)— The Colorado horse industry is preparing to launch a major aerial survey along the Front Range to determine how many horses there are in the state and where they are located.

The findings could help county commissioners and state lawmakers sharpen their perspective on current land use and the potential economic impact on people who have horses on small lots, those that range between one and 50 acres in size, officials said.

Industry experts fear that small horse farms will be displaced by housing developments or that they will be taxed out of existence unless they are first identified and then protected.

``Very few public officials recognize the horse industry as a viable industry,'' said Ann Swinker, a horse specialist with the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service.

Three years ago, the American Horse Council estimated there were 6.9 million horses nationally, producing $25.3 billion a year.

That figure included money generated from races, shows, sales, veterinary services, grooming equipment, barns, corrals, horse trailers and land, said the council's Katie Luedeke.

The council estimated that there were 194,000 horses in Colorado, but local horse groups doubt those numbers. They say nobody knows for sure how many horses there are in the state, where individual horse owners live, or where their horses graze and bed down.

``Everyone does their own thing,'' Swinker said, adding that quarter horse owners don't mingle with owners of Arabians or draft horses and probably don't join any of the clubs that show, race or otherwise compete with their horses.

The Colorado Agricultural Statistics Service plans to send survey forms to every horse owner it can find early next month. No date has been set for the aerial surveys.