July 2006
A horse is a horse
...and a business of course
by Laura Freeman

Horse trainer Jent Streiner of Mentor rides Paint One Long Stockings, Pippi for short, a 2-year-old American Paint. She boards Pippi at John Cutlip's stables in Leroy Township. Cutlip, like many other horse owners in Lake County, rents out stables to supplement his income and help support his own horse habit. Photo by Marc Golub

Let’s do a silent Rorschach test: Think to yourself what comes to mind as you read each item. Hint: the answer is the same for each item. Construction; hotel stays; sawdust; law degree; insurance salesperson; police officers; blacksmithing. Answer: horses.

The equine industry is jumping in Northeast Ohio, says Suzanne Coen, assistant professor and associate dean of equine studies at Lake Erie College.

“If there is a job or career out there, in some way a horse is attached to it,” Coen said. “The financial trickle-down is great when you think about it. Builders, tack, the hay business, even laundry mats. There are an awful lot of opportunities in an area with a lot of horses.”

And the list goes on. Horse owners need barns and fencing, or a stable where they can board their horse if they don’t have their own barn. They need sawdust for bedding, and grain for feeding.

They need special insurance and attorneys to draw up releases/hold harmless agreements. Like any other business, those in the business of horses also need accountants. Other needs include apparel and equipment, trainers, breeders, horse shoes, horse sitters, and perhaps most importantly, large animal veterinarians.

No small drop in the bucket

Hay may be for horses, but the equine industry is nothing to sneeze at. It contributes more than $2.2 billion to the state economy annually, according to a 2005 American Horse Council study. Ohio ranks sixth in the nation in total horse population with 306,898 horses. All told, the industry supports more than 43,000 full-time equivalent jobs in Ohio.

The All American Quarter Horse Congress, the largest single-breed horse show in the world, is held in Columbus each October. About 650,000 people attend Congress each year according to the Ohio Quarter Horse Association, rivaling the Ohio State Fair in attendance.

Congress participants bring an estimated $110 million to the Central Ohio economy. More than 16,000 horses enter various competitions each year, about 8,500 of which reside at the fairgrounds during the event.

Membership statewide in the American Quarter Horse Association is almost 11,000, fifth in the nation behind Texas, California, Oklahoma and Missouri.

No horsing around

In Lake County, more than 300 horses are enrolled in 4-H programs. That’s the largest horse enrollment in the state of Ohio, according to Donna Maruschak, 4-H youth development and program assistant at the OSU Extension office in Painesville.

“But that’s just 4-H,” Maruschak said. “There a lot of horses in Lake County.”

Just how many is difficult to track. The 2002 Census lists just 698 horses in the county at 72 farms.

Dan Donaldson, district administrator at the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, doesn’t think that number is an accurate portrayal of the local horse population.

Unlike a dairy farm where the cows are registered, there are several associations, not just one, that keep track of horses. Donaldson conducted a rough inventory of how many land owners have horses in the county. He said the number is in the thousands, not the hundreds.

“There is no definitive reference we can go to and come up with the number of horses,” Donaldson said. “There is no registry or licensing so this information comes from a number of sources ranging from surveys, interviews with vets, farriers and other sources. There are a lot of backyard horses we don’t know about. The consensus is that in Lake County there is most likely somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000. Geauga County may have upwards of 8,000.”

Room and boarding

All this comes as no surprise to Shirley Latimer, owner of Windfall Farms in Chardon where she boards 19 horses.

“We board just enough horses to support our habit,” Latimer laughed. “Horses are fun, but they take a lot of dedication and commitment and there’s a lot of expense involved. To me they’re large magnificent animals and I think they’re a gift to work with and enjoy.”

Latimer helped put together the Equine Advisory Committee of Northeast Ohio Directory, a listing of more than 60 stables as well as veterinarians and other services in the surrounding area.

She has been an adviser for the Lake County 4-H group Sundance Kids for 27 years. It’s mostly girls who participate, her own daughters being no exception. Her idea of fun is to spend an entire day at a horse show.

Equine ed

Latimer said she has always thought the equine industry did so well in this area because of Lake Erie College. Coen tends to agree.

“We try to run the equine center as a business so students have the opportunity to participate in all aspects of it,” Coen said. “Our students also participate in all the shows held at the college, manning all the jobs, planning the entire event.”

Coen says her graduates have become journalists (for equine magazines) or continued on to veterinary school, where it’s extremely difficult to be accepted. Some have become assistants to professional trainers, trying to earn enough money for their own barn.

Others have gone into law, pharmaceutical sales or insurance as each relates to the equine industry. Still others have gone into retail, working at local tack shops like Arcaro’s Saddlery in Ashtabula or Paddock Saddlery in Newbury.

“Working there gives them an opportunity to network with a lot of people and makes it easier to find the career they’re looking for; they’ll try to work anywhere that has a horse attached to it,” she said. “Some just want to learn enough to own their own horse.”

Visitor spending

Coen said programs at both Lake Erie College and the Andrews School in Willoughby are growing the horse business in the area. Bob Ulas, director of the Lake County Visitors Bureau, said it’s hard to tell the direct impact.

“The bureau conducts general surveys but not on specific visitor industry elements as they are quite costly. I do know the horse shows attract a high-end clientele who spend significant dollars while visiting,” Ulas said.

“We are filling the hotels,” Coen said. “I don’t think the hotel owners even mind it when the students come into the lobby with muddy boots.”

Marty Kirincic, a partner with Amerihost Hotel in Concord Township, doesn’t mind a bit. In fact, Kirincic sets out bowls of carrots and apples in the hotel lobby for the riders to bring to their horses. The 55-room hotel is just around the corner from LEC’s George M. Humphrey Equestrian Center. He says the facility is often half full with “horse people.”

“They are one of the best year-round businesses we have,” he said. “The business they bring in helps out during the traditionally slow months of January and February. There probably isn’t a week that goes by that they don’t bring rooms to the hotel. And when they come in, they come in force. Carrots and muddy boots are no problem.”

Visitors to any of the Lake Metroparks facilities may come in contact with the Lake Metroparks Mounted Posse. Posse volunteers are the parks’ goodwill ambassadors. Members assist rangers with park patrols and traffic control at park-sponsored events. They also perform at annual festivals such as Horse Fest.

Lisa Sintic is the Posse’s mounted unit coordinator. She’s been a Posse member since it started in 1989. Posse members go out in pairs; there are usually several groups out at different parks during open hours.

“We are like extra eyes and ears for the rangers,” she said. “The posse is a big help to the ranger department and the public relations aspect is phenomenal. Horses are kid magnets,” Sintic said. “Everybody wants to come over and pet the horses.”

Feeding the demand

There is a broad spectrum of people who ride horses, says Mary Peplowski, owner of Madison Pet & Garden and Lake County 4-H saddle horse adviser. From the backyard trail rider to those who spend thousands on their horses and compete in national shows, Peplowski believes there is a place in the business for everyone.

“The only difference is the price tag; they all feel the same about their horses,” Peplowski said. “There are limits to everybody’s budgets, but no limit to your talent. I know people who would go without gasoline before they go without feed.”

Before she bought the store five years ago, her kids were showing in local horse shows. She and other area horse owners would try to wait for Congress or Equine Affair, held every April, also in Columbus, and stock up.

“Back then there wasn’t much in the county as far as horse supplies,” Peplowski said. “We try to address that niche.”

From fly spray to wound care, vitamin supplements and worming supplies, Peplowski carries practically anything a horse owner needs. The store also has a consignment shop filled with everything from saddles and bridles for the horses to sequined show tops and beaded vests for the riders.

“Kids outgrow the show clothing so fast and it’s so expensive,” she said. “We have done an excellent job of moving people’s saddles and other basics.”

Peplowski cautions that it’s sometimes nothing but hard work.

“You have to balance work with pleasure,” she said. “We had to find a way to make a living that would support it. Besides being what we do, it’s who we are now.”

Slow decline?

Dr. Joel Percival owns veterinary clinics in Concord Township and Kirtland.

While there still are many horses in Lake County, Percival thinks there are fewer than there were just one or two years ago. He said as there is less and less land available, people and their horses will move out of the county.

“We seem to be driving to Ashtabula County more and more,” Percival said. “There is just more land available out there. With just the building that’s gone on in Concord, a lot of the property just isn’t here any more. We still see a lot of 4-H horses.”

Growing up in the Painesville area, he remembers the Lake County Fair at its peak in the mid- to late-’70s when there were about 1,000 4-H horse projects.

“There were only 150 horse projects last year,” he said. “That’s quite a difference.”

He says he doesn’t think those numbers will increase.

“As far as show horses, hi-end horses, we’re not going to see a lot of that in Lake County anymore,” he said. “I think people who live in Mentor or Concord and own a horse and board it somewhere like Leroy will be the majority.”

Percival’s own interest in horses hasn’t waned. He says he was born 150 years too late and on the wrong side of the Mississippi. He still travels all over the U.S., mostly out West, for competitions with his reining horses.

“As for people like me, there’s not going to be that many people around anymore that are going to take the time and money to do that,” he said.

He does see an increase of interest in trail riding among one sector of the population.

“There’s a huge group of people of retirement age that travel all over for trail rides,” he said. “It’s getting bigger and bigger because it’s so relaxing. And there is some good trail riding to be done around here.”

Laura Freeman is editor of the Lake County Business Journal.