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Focus on ELCR
Efforts have been made in many locales to preserve land for stabling, competing, and enjoying horses, but there has been no single, national source of information and assistance on land protection and policy matters specifically related to horse use. Leading equestrian organizations have identified the loss of open land as the greatest threat to their future, but the industry is fragmented.
The need to address this problem is urgent. America cannot afford to lose equestrian sport, recreation, and industry; their economic impact is huge. According to a 2005 The Economic Impact of the Horse Industry on the United States by the American Horse Council, the horse industry:
- Directly produces goods and services of $39 billion.
- Has a total impact of $101 billion on U.S. gross domestic product.
- Has almost 2 million horse owners, with another 2 million people involved as volunteers or through family affiliation.
- Sustains approximately 1.4 million full-time jobs.
- Is comprised of approximately 9.2 million horses, with 3.9 million of those involved in recreation and another 2.7 million participating in horse shows/competitions.
All over the country, there are equestrians who are faced with the impending loss of their open land, but they do not know how to go about land conservation. Those who are fortunate have a local conservation group to which they can turn for assistance, but very few conservationists have any expertise regarding equestrian issues. The potential impact of adding over a million equestrians to the land conservation movement is enormous.
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