Horses and the rural economy in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Summary The horse industry is large and varied, but until comparatively recently its contribution to the economy of the UK has been virtually ignored and this, together with the disparate nature and small size of the individual businesses involved, has resulted in a general lack of universally available data. What is undoubtedly true, however, is that the horse touches upon the professional and recreational aspects of many peoples' lives and that, without the horse, not only would a significant proportion of the rural working population be unemployed but many ancillary industries would have considerably less work available. This paper reinforces the concept of the horse being at the centre of a large, though disparate and dispersed industry and, what is more, that it is an industry of essential importance both to the welfare of the countryside and to the economic viability of the UK. It also attempts to quantify the size of the horse industry based upon limited information. The paper concludes that 125,000 people (expressed in full time equivalents) are employed directly, there are 600,000 horses and an economic contribution in excess of £m1000.

Horses and rangelands: perspectives in Europe based on a French case study

“…In France, the horse industry generates an estimated 40 000 direct agricultural jobs and approximately 12 billion euros in turnover (REFErences, ). In the United Kingdom, 125 000 people (expressed in full‐time equivalents) are directly employed in the horse industry, whose economic contribution is in excess of one billion pounds (Suggett, ). In Sweden, horses are the fifth most important source of income for farmers (Johansson, ).…”

Summary of current knowledge of the size and spatial distribution of the horse population within Great Britain

“…A number of surveys have been conducted in the UK to estimate demographic attributes of the equine population [2-6]. The results of these surveys vary with respect to estimates of horse numbers (between 600,000 and 1.3 million [7-10]) and should be interpreted cautiously because of the diverse nature of data collected by different authorities (UK, GB, England, Scotland, Wales) and small numbers of survey respondents [11], to say nothing of the datedness of some of these estimates. Since 2006, the National Equine Database (NED) has received data on all equidae issued with a passport from any of the 80 passport issuing organisations (PIOs) in the UK.…”

Productions et activités équines en France : quelles contributions à la durabilité de l’agriculture ?

“…Ce mode de fonctionnement de nombreux acteurs de la fi lière équine, mettant de côté la rationalité économique (Suggett, 1999 ;Elgåker et Wilton, 2008 ;Miraglia, 2012 ;Bigot et al, 2015). D'une part, les activités équines peuvent représenter des opportunités de diversification dans les structures agricoles (Jez, 2014).…”

“…D'autre part, les structures agricoles peuvent fournir des biens et services aux particuliers locaux, propriétaires d'équins (fourrages, céréales, location ou prêt de matériel, entretien de parcelles, prêt, location ou vente de terres…) (Vial et Gouguet, 2014), ainsi que des services spécifiques de reproduction ou de valorisation de chevaux quand les exploitations ont des activités équines (Bigot et al, 2015). Ceci est également constaté dans d'autres pays comme la Grande-Bretagne (Suggett, 1999 ;Bailey et al, 2000) ou l'Écosse (Quetier et Gordon, 2003). Enfin, qu'ils soient détenus par des particuliers (Vial et Gouguet, 2014) ou des exploitants agricoles (Lortal et al, 2010), les équidés entretiennent souvent des espaces soumis à la déprise agricole.…”