By Chris Gould / CWHBA
Graphics: CWHBA

The CWHBA conducted a survey in March asking questions about rider and breeder profiles, breeder methodology, numbers of horses, and marketing issues. It was designed to get a sense of trends within the industry that might be helpful to the organization and to individual breeders.

The response to the survey was quite good, considering the pool of potential respondents that we were drawing from. The questions were not limited to breeders and members only, but of course access to other sources is somewhat limited. Of just over 2,000 people questioned, more thjan 10% responded. The results clearly indicated that those most invested in the industry are most interested and engaged, since a surprising 29% of our respondents indicated they had 10 or more horses, and 20% had five or more. Age was also a factor with the largest group, 23%, aged 65 or older, and 20% aged 55 to 64. This bias in the respondents must be kept in mind as the results are analyzed.
It is also difficult to identify trends with a one-off questionnaire, but this will provide a baseline for future surveys which will track trends and development. A brief overview of the results is given below. This will be followed by a more detailed analysis to be published on the CWHBA website. The aggregate data was encouraging, with 51% planning to maintain the same number of horses and 24% planning for future increases. The three main disciplines of interest were jumper, hunter, and dressage in that order.

We wanted to determine from breeders how many mares and stallions they were breeding, what methodologies they were using, and if future plans were to expand or downsize their business. Half of the respondents identified themselves as breeders, of which 50% owned stallions, while 56% breed only one or two mares. Fresh-cooled semen was the most popular breeding methodology, but embryo transfers were used by 21%, while ICSI is used by 3%. Cost of reproductive services was identified as the major challenge in their breeding program. At the same time the cost of showing young horses was identified as the major obstacle in marketing... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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