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Horse R&D scholarships The RIRDC Horse program offers scholarships for postgraduate study and vocational work experience in the horse industry. Click here for more information.Key long term strategies
The number of horses in Australia is estimated to be 1.2 million. Of these between 10–50% are registered. There are estimated to be 300,000 feral horses – most in the north of Australia. In the 2005–06 breeding season 29,070 thoroughbred mares were covered by 883 stallions. The mares produced 17,854 foals (64% success rate) of which 13,618 were registered. Considering all sectors of the horse industry, breeding and racing (particularly thoroughbreds) contributes the greatest gross value of production. In 2005–06 the thoroughbred industry in Australia had 379 race clubs maintaining 355 racetracks. These clubs held 2,752 race meetings during which 19,963 races were conducted with 195,720 starters. The majority of elite thoroughbred stallions, mares and horse farms are owned by a relatively small number of individuals or corporations. Future growth of the thoroughbred industry is directly related to prize money which is in turn related to wagering. Both have continued to increase annually and as such the racing industry is likely to continue to expand. However, competition for the wagering dollar will continue to place pressure on this part of the industry. Australia has the second largest number of registered thoroughbreds in the world (USA 1st). The international market for high quality thoroughbred horses remains robust. Australia is likely to continue to be a net exporter of horses for the foreseeable future. In 2005–06, 1,695 thoroughbred horses were exported from Australia (with 892 being imported). The majority are exported to New Zealand with significant percentages going to Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Macau and China with those in the latter groups mainly being males to be used as racehorses. Eighty percent of thoroughbred imports in the same period came from New Zealand, with 10% from the USA and 3–4% each from Great Britain and Ireland. In addition to the thoroughbred industry, which does supply horses to the pleasure sector, there are many other smaller but important components of the horse industry. A significant example is the Australian Stock Horse Society. Established in 1971 the Society is one of the largest of more than 70 individual horse breed associations in Australia. Membership approaches 9,500 individuals with in excess of 170,000 registered horses. The successful performance of the Australian Stock Horse has not only been recognised throughout Australia, but exports to the United Kingdom, United States of America, Africa, New Zealand and Asia have given this quintessential Australian horse worldwide recognition. Other major performance breeds in Australia include Arabian and Quarter horses. The Arabian Horse Society of Australia, one of the oldest organisations, saw 117,331 horse registrations and 3,771 full members in 2005. The Australian Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) founded in 1972, serves a growing and diverse industry. The organisation has been enjoying approximately 7,000 new horse registrations in each of the past few years. The Association has 6,000 members with over 139,000 horses registered. Australia has a long tradition of elite performance in Olympic equestrian disciplines, particularly in eventing but also Dressage, Show Jumping, Vaulting, and Carriage Driving. All the activities are under the overall auspices of the Equestrian Federation of Australia (EFA). The EFA has been critical in the process of assisting Australian horses and riders compete successfully in international competitions. To that end Australia now has several horse and rider combinations participating in each of the prestigious European show jumping, dressage and eventing competitions. Australia is expected to field teams in each of these disciplines at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games; with the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong. The EFA also oversees the FEI (Fédération Equestre Internationale) aspects of endurance riding competitions which continue to increase in number and popularity in Australia. There is a growing international market for Australian bred endurance horses which are mostly Arabians. The Pony Club movement in Australia is a grass roots organisation that underpins the social fabric of a large sector of Australia’s junior and youth constituency. Since its inception in 1946, Pony Club Australia has grown to the extent that it now has around 40% of the junior membership in the world. Pony Club in Australia is a world leader in encouraging young people to ride, offering a well structured curriculum for young riders, an efficient central administration and a comprehensive insurance system to highlight just a few features. Australian pony club riders enjoy international and trans-Tasman competition success and in 2006 the Australian team came 2nd at the International Mounted Games Championships in Great Britain. A major problem for the horse industry as a whole is persisting drought. As a result there has been loss of available grazing and with the cost of feed more than doubling over the past 12 months, many farm, breeding, ‘backyard’ and/or ‘pet’ horses have been sent to sale. Of those horses passing through sales, around 30,000 per annum are processed for human consumption, with this meat being exported. Australia has the enviable reputation of being free of many of the major endemic horse diseases. This includes freedom from Equine Influenza, African Horse Sickness, Surra, West Nile Virus, and Glanders to name but a few. An initiative by the Australian Horse Industry Council to develop a levy on new horse registrations in order for the horse industry to become a signatory to the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement is likely to be supported and enacted in 2007–08. A new five-year R&D plan for the horse industry covering the period 2006–11 is currently being implemented. The previous plan was reviewed in the development phase of the new plan. There is currently no industry levy for the Horse R&D Program and all funds are provided as donations, largely from the racing and thoroughbred breeding industries. Since the commencement of the Horse Program financial support has been received from Racing Victoria, Equestrian Federation of Australia, the Australian Stock Horse Society, the Australian Quarter Horse Association, the Australian Equine Veterinary Association, the Australian Thoroughbred Breeders Club, Hawkesbury, Mr Gerry Harvey, Coolmore Australia, Tyreel Stud, Alanbridge Stud, Logans Insurance, Howard Insurance, Peptech Animal Health, Magic Millions, International Racehorse Transport, the Paint Horse Association, Ms Barb Vial, Dolly van Zaane and the Australian Harness Racing Council. Racing Victoria Limited contributed $200,000 to the RIRDC Horse Program in 2006–07 with a commitment for three years, contingent on the outcomes of a review of program outputs after the first twelve months. The research program has been substantially expanded as a result of this investment by Racing Victoria and the Advisory Committee has put in place a plan to maximise the use of the additional funding. A number of large projects have been initiated including: Strategies for 2007–08
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Stock
Horse Health - colic-1 (QDPI Notes)
Stock
Horse Health - colic-2 (QDPI Notes)
Stock
Horse Health (QDPI Notes)
Strangles
in the horse (NT DBIRD- not currently
available online. Email publications.dbird@nt.gov.au
for hard copy)
Code
of accepted farming practice for the welfare of horses (Vic NRE
Ag Notes)
Code
of practice for the land transport of horses (Victoria) (Vic
NRE Ag Notes)
Condition
scoring and weight estimation of horses (Vic NRE
Ag Notes)
Feeding
horses in dry conditions (Vic NRE Ag Notes)
A
bin for storing horse feeds (NSW Agric)
Commonsense
with horses (NSW Agric)
Drought
(NSW Agric)
Estimating
a horse’s weight (NSW Agric)
Feeding
the working horse (NSW Agric)
Horse
health—practical worm control (NSW Agric)
Horse
health—vaccination against tetanus and strangles (NSW Agric)
Horse
yards and handling facilities (NSW Agric)
Judging
horses (NSW Agric)
Practical
feeding of horses (NSW Agric)
Condition
scoring and weight estimation of horse
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Diseases
of horses notifiable in Victoria
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Leptospirosis
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Agistment
contracts for horses
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Agistment
contracts for livestock in Victoria
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Miniature
horses and ponies
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Feeding
horses in dry conditions
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Horses
and bushfires
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Horses
and floods (Vic
NRE Ag Notes)
Code
of accepted practice for the welfare of horses
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Code
of practice for the land transport of horses
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Code
of Practice for the welfare of horses at horse hire establishments
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Code
of practice for the welfare of horses competing at bush race meetings
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Code
of practice for the welfare of rodeo and rodeo school livestock
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Codes
of practice for horse welfare in Victoria
(Vic NRE Ag Notes)
Last updated: October
2008
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http://www.rirdc.gov.au/programs/hor.html
