AP News, July 2nd, 2007
New Jersey may be better known for smokestacks than green pastures, but businesses that rely on horses help preserve scenic vistas, from picturesque fields to rustic stables and riding rings.
The horse has been the state animal for 30 years, and New Jersey boasts the country's premier harness racing venue, the Meadowlands Racetrack, plus some of the sport's top drivers.
The last four harness racing "horses of the year" were bred in New Jersey. And this October, New Jersey will host the prestigious Breeders' Cup for the first time, a top race for thoroughbreds, which are ridden by jockeys, unlike the standardbreds that pull drivers in sulkies.
But experts say New Jersey's horse industry, from breeding farms to hay growers, is in jeopardy due to development, growing competition from racetracks with slot machines in neighboring states, and the steady decline in the fan base for horse racing.
"This is our critical year," said Mary Jo Herbert, a racehorse owner and breeder who is president of the State Board of Agriculture. "We're all afraid that we're going to lose our racing business and our horse farms."
For several years, Atlantic City casinos have given subsidies to the state's four tracks, and in return the tracks have dropped efforts to get slot machines. But the subsidies expire at the end of the year, and no replacement funding is in sight.
"You can't keep a track competitive without a good purse" for the race winners, Herbert said recently at her Hopewell Heritage Farm, just hours after one of her horses, Stormy Orange, took third place in a Monmouth Park race.
People can sell their land to developers and move, she said.
New Jersey's horse industry includes breeding farms, training facilities, competitive shows and farms that grow hay, oats and barley specifically for those horses, according to a recent study on the industry's impact, funded by the state Agriculture Department and horse racing interests.
The report, based on an economic analysis of National Agricultural Statistics Service data by the Rutgers Equine Science Center, is the most comprehensive look at the industry so far.
It calls New Jersey "horse country," with 7,200 equine operations across all 21 counties and 142,000 acres. That's about 3 percent of the state's 4.8 million acres and one-fifth of New Jersey farmland.
Rutgers found the state's horse industry generates about 13,000 jobs and $1.1 billion a year in total economic impact.
"That's a conservative estimate," said Karyn Malinowski, director of the equine center, which will give the findings to legislators and the governor's staff.
The study shows the industry pays about $160 million a year in local, state and federal taxes and has assets totaling $4 billion. Those include racetracks, pastures, farm buildings and about 42,500 equine animals, mostly horses but also a small number of ponies and donkeys.
Nationwide, the horse industry directly provides the equivalent of 454,000 full-time jobs, pays a total of $1.9 billion in taxes, and has an economic impact of $39 billion a year, according to a 2005 study by the American Horse Council, a lobbying group.
The study found there are 4.6 million people who own or work with the 9.2 million horses in the United States, more than two-thirds of which are used for showing or recreation.
New Jersey is in the bottom half of the states in terms of number of horses, said Jay Hickey, the horse council's president, but the leading states have much more open land. In order, those are Texas, California, Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
Rutgers Equine Science Center: http://www.esc.rutgers.edu
