Program Information

Horses were originally valued in Virginia for their ability to carry a load (including a passenger), haul a wagon, or even pull a plow. Today, though a few Virginia horses are work animals….

ABCs of Agriculture informs about Virginia's farming community and how it affects you. ABCs of Agriculture are produced by the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) - an educational program which encourages and enhances agricultural literacy in Grades K-5 and 6-8.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the ABC’s of Agriculture! We’re here today to talk about the letter “H” for Horse!

Virginia is for Horse lovers… whether they’re racing hoses… or jumpers… we love these animals!

Horses were originally valued in Virginia for their ability to carry a load (including a passenger), haul a wagon, or even pull a plow. Today, though a few Virginia horses are work animals….

The horse industry is highly diverse industry in the state that supports a wide variety of activities in all regions of the Commonwealth. It combines the primarily rural activities of breeding, training, maintaining and riding horses with the more urban activities of operating racetracks, horse shows and public sales.

The 2001 Virginia Equine Survey indicated there was an estimated 170 thousand horses of all types in Virginia…These animals were located on 29 thousand horse operations throughout the Commonwealth.

The top five breeds in the state are:
1 - Thoroughbreds
2 - Quarter Horses
3 - Arabian and Anglo Arabian
4 - Ponies of all types … and
5 - Tennessee walker

Trail or pleasure riding is by far the most predominant use of equine followed by breeding.

The value of all equine in Virginia as of 2001 was more than 1.4 billion dollars!

There were 12 thousand 8 hundred equine sold, with a sales value of nearly 99.4 million dollars. These sales place equine as Virginia’s 7th largest agricultural commodity based on cash receipts.

This majestic beauty you see behind me is called a Hanoverian. This breed of horse has the highest average value for any horse in Virginia at about 21 thousand 7 hundred dollars per head! Now that’s a lot of horse power!!!!

For the ABC’s of Agriculture, I’m Professor Brad! See you next time.

FYI. . . Just in case you didn’t know…
There are 7.1 million Americans are involved in the industry as horse owners, service providers, employees and volunteers. The horse industry has a total impact of $112.1 billion on U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There are 6.9 million horses in the U.S., including both commercial and recreational horses.

Virginia Standards