"We hope that this electronic approach will make it easy for people to participate and maximize the overall response," AHC president Jay Hickey said in a release. "The individuals, who were randomly invited to participate, and the other equine operations have an opportunity to support their horse industry by completing the online survey. The more horse owners, breeders, riders, trainers, racetracks, shows, rodeos, and other service providers that participate, the better the data will be that is included in the final results."
Deloitte Consulting was selected to do the study, which has a targeted completion date of February 2005. Deloitte Consulting developed a stratified sample of people to participate working from a list of 1.6 million names developed from horse association membership lists, magazine subscription lists, and other horse industry retailer lists.
The 1996 national economic study established that the horse industry, including racing, showing, and recreation, had a $112 billion effect on the U.S. economy, involved more than 7 million Americans, 6.9 million horses, and supported 1.4 million full-time jobs.
Many organizations, including the AHC Foundation, American Quarter Horse Association, The Jockey Club, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Keeneland Association, American Paint Horse Association, American Association of Equine Practitioners, United States Trotting Association, United States Equestrian Federation, have supported the study.