Large numbers of people working in Kentucky’s horse industry are being surveyed about the economic impacts found during coronavirus. The just-released COVID-19 Kentucky Equine Business Impact Survey is a joint project of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, or KEEP, and the University of Louisville.
KEEP Vice President Elisabeth Jensen says the Thoroughbred racing industry is heavily driven by expendable incomes. “It’s going to affect the people who buy horses and the people who wager at the racetracks. It’s going to be months before we really understand what their impact is on how they participate in our industry and then how that impacts horse breeding and horse sales and all the other ancillary businesses that are involved in the horse industry,” said Jensen.
Although much attention understandably centers on Thoroughbred racing, Jensen said, for smaller farms, it’s less of an employee impact and more of an overall economic hit. “There are many breeds that have smaller family run, smaller businesses that are getting hurt because the horse shows have all been canceled. People aren’t buying show horses, they’re not having horse shoes, they’re not traveling to horse shows. All of those things are being hurt also,” explained Jensen.
Jensen said phase one of the survey has already gone out to 15 hundred KEEP members. Kentucky’s horse industry has an estimated 35,000 individual operations, providing nearly 80,000 jobs across the Commonwealth.
Here's more with Kentucky Equine Education Project Vice President Elisabeth Jensen:
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