Horse Council

It is 12 months since the last survey on the Australian horse industry done by AHIC. A major reason for undertaking horse industry surveys is to gather information on a variety of subjects that are of national interest. AHIC is asked weekly about industry data from a wide variety of sources - academics, industry, horse organisations, media representatives, students, horse owners and so on. The currently available information is not comprehensive and needs updating constantly.

This latest survey seeks to update and expand on previous knowledge. The current adverse economic conditions have impacted on us all and it would be informative to gain some insight into how horse owners are coping and whether they are still as active in the industry.

At a meeting in April 2009, representatives from 12 of 14 large member-based organisations agreed that it would be a good idea for an annual levy to be paid by horse owners to fund ongoing horse industry activities. These would include such activities as research and development, promotion, biosecurity and quarantine for horse events and horse properties, Animal Health Australia membership, advocacy, industry consultations and meetings, development and maintenance of a national horse database, safety and occupational health programs in the horse industry, and continuing education of horse industry participants.

AHIC is seeking your personal views on this proposal in this survey. Any excess collections could be diverted into a contingency fund to be held in case there is a future exotic disease outbreak. Such funds could be used to offset part of any eligible costs incurred in an emergency disease response.

A major benefit of having an annual horse industry levy would be ongoing funding for horse industry activities, currently there is none. Furthermore it would be a point for unification across the entire horse industry because everybody would be working to the same set of rules and for the same purposes - advancement of the entire horse industry, both its horses and their owners.

The survey also seeks some basic demographic data about horse owners and those who participate in the horse industry. This is so that AHIC has some idea about where horse owners are, and how they compare with other individuals in the community at large. The information gathered from this part of the survey can be compared with data collected in the national census to determine if those in the horse industry are similar to the “average Australian person” or different in some way. This will assist AHIC greatly in answering the many requests we receive for information about the Australian horse industry.

I encourage you to complete as much of the survey as you can and for you to alert your horse industry contacts also to complete the survey. The larger the amount of data collected the more reliable and useful it will be.

You can access the latest AHIC survey at http://www.surveymaster.com/AHIC/q2.asp

The survey will run until 31 July 2009.

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AUSTRALIAN HORSE INDUSTRY COUNCIL - HORSE INDUSTRY SURVEY July 2009

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