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EQUINE - September 2005 Who Cares About Horses? True, few things have shaped Kentucky’s national image like the horse, which represents an industry in the state with nearly $1 billion in sales. And true, few organizations have strived to meet the needs of the state’s equine community like the University of Kentucky, demonstrated most recently in the university’s massive efforts to solve the mystery of mare reproductive loss syndrome, or MRLS. The UK Equine Initiative was established in May by the Gluck Equine Research Foundation, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association/Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders and the UK College of Agriculture. It’s being conducted in concert with the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) and several other equine organizations. “The horse industry is our No. 1 agriculture business,” said Dr. Nancy Cox, associate dean for research in the UK College of Agriculture. “We’re really trying to realign ourselves with the industry.” The program has several elements, including:
But the main thrust of the initiative is direct interaction with Kentucky’s equine industry. And that includes more than just owners, trainers and breeders. “For me, the horse industry is any time people use the horse for business or pleasure,” Garkovich said. “It’s an enormous industry.” To tap the pulse of such a widespread community, UK has scheduled listening sessions across the state to give every corner of the equine world input into new UK programs that might better meet the needs of students and the industry. Anyone can access a survey on the equine initiative’s Web site that polls everything from what type of animals they own to what they think the state’s equine industry should look like in 10 years. “We wanted to become more responsive to what people in the industry thought was important,” Garkovich explained. “We thought the survey was a way to really go beyond the listening sessions and open it up to people all over the state.” The university hopes to have the bulk of responses to the survey back over the next two or three months. UK will use early results from the surveys and listening sessions to formulate what Cox calls an “in-house” plan detailing how it can better serve the equine industry. “This is an important step,” Garkovich added. “It’s recognizing the hallmark of how people identify (Kentucky). That’s the value of this initiative.” Garkovich said she does not envision a cutoff date for the online survey, as the university will be constantly looking for industry input for its programs. “This is the first time the College of Agriculture has taken interaction in such a way,” Cox said. “The university can’t do everything for the horse industry, but we’re going to sift through the recommendations for what we can address.” To see notes from listening sessions that have already taken place, go to the equine initiative’s Web site at www.ca.uky.edu/equine.
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But UK officials feel those efforts might have been missing the mark. So in a bit of soul-searching, the school has launched a major initiative to get back in touch with the industry’s needs that includes what it says is the first industry-wide survey in the state.