Texas Equine Industry Study • Horse Economic Impact

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Table 2 reports Texas revenues by business category for relevant business types. Other businesses, including training, boarding, and education were deemed to be expenses for both other businesses and recreational riders. Thus, including their revenues in the study would result in double counting economic impacts.

Table 2. Revenues by Business Type, 2015.

The economic impacts of individuals who own horses for non-business purposes are difficult to measure. Individuals’ horse-related expenditures were surveyed to determine economic impact. Ownership and travel-related expenses are reported separately in Table 3 (right). Among all non-business horses owned for recreation and other purposes, these expenses totaled $1.9 billion.

Table 3. Average Expenses for Personally-Owned horses.

Table 4 reports economic contributions of the horse industry by category. Direct Effect includes individuals’ horse-related expenditures and equine business revenues. This direct spending is multiplied as money circulates through the economy. Indirect & Induced Effect reflects the multiplied effect as businesses purchase along their supply chains, as well as the household expenditures of employees of both horse-related businesses and all indirectly affected businesses. Total Effect is the sum of direct, indirect and induced effects.

Table 4. TOTAL EQUINE INDUSTRY. Economic contribution of the horse industry by category.

Output measures overall economic activity or gross sales. Output includes Value Added, which measures the return to local resources or the contribution to GDP, and Labor Income, which reflects the effects of wages and profits on the incomes of households in the region. Employees reflects a job count and does not distinguish between full-time and part-time workers.

In this case, the original $3.5 billion economic contribution of the Texas equine industry leads to a total statewide economic output of $5.9 billion, including a $3.3 billion contribution to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) and $2.1 billion in labor income, as well as 52,000 full- and part-time jobs.